LARAMIE, Wyo. (Dec. 26, 2021) – The Wyoming Cowgirls begin Mountain West play to open the post-Holiday break as UW travels to face San Diego State in the MW-opener in a December 28, 2 p.m., Mountain Time tip. The Cowgirls will play three of their first four conference games on the road.
Tuesday's contest will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network and fans can listen to the game across all 25 stations on the Cowgirl Radio Network with Keith Kelley on the call.
A LOOK AT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming (4-5) closed non-conference play with a hard-fought loss at undefeated Nebraska Dec. 22, losing to the Cornhuskers, 72-61. Allyson Fertig led the Cowgirls by tying a career-high with 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds in her second-career start. Alba Sanchez Ramos and Ola Ustowska also reached double figures in the loss scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Ustowska has provided a big spark off the bench for the Cowgirls in her last three games. Dating back to the Gonzaga game, Ustowska is leading Wyoming in scoring at 12.3 points per game and is shooting 13-of-19 (68 percent) overall from the field and 9-for-13 (69 percent) from 3-point range.
Through non-conference play, the Cowgirls have been led in scoring by McKinley Bradshaw's 13.2 points per game. Fertig and Quinn Weidemann are averaging just-under 10 points per game, averaging 9.9 and 9.4 points per, respectively. Sanchez Ramos leads the way averaging 6.2 rebounds per contest and is second on the team with 24 assists.
Since committing a season-high 20 turnovers in the loss at Gonzaga, the Cowgirls have kept good care of the basketball, committing just nine turnovers in each of the last two games and are averaging 13 assists per game. Tommi Olson continues to lead UW in assists with 29 and still leads the country in assist-to-turnover ratio at a clip of 4.83 this season.
This is the sixth consecutive season that the Cowgirls open league play on the road. UW is 2-3 in its last five Mountain West openers, including a 1-1 mark under Head Coach Gerald Mattinson. Wyoming also opened the 2017-18 conference-slate at San Diego State, a 68-62 loss.
SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs are led by a trio scoring in double figures thus far in 2021-22. Sophia Ramos leads the team averaging 14.5 points per game and is shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range and has hit a team-best 24 from beyond-the-arc. Ramos also leads SDSU in rebounding (5.6 per game), assists (36) and steals (23).
Asia Avinger and Merceded Staples also average 10-plus per game at 10.2 and 10.1, respectively. The duo also ranks second and third on the team in rebounding and in assists. Kamaria Gipson leads the Aztecs with 13 blocks this year.
Stacie Terry-Hutson is in her ninth season leading San Diego State. The Aztecs have been solid at home this season, posting a 4-2 record with one of those losses coming to 24th-ranked Ohio State, 66-54 in their last contest before league play.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST SAN DIEGO STATE
Wyoming is 33-29 all-time against the Aztecs but is just 9-17 on the road against SDSU. The last time the Cowgirls made the trip to Viejas Arena was a 67-60 overtime loss in January of 2020. UW has won six of the last seven meetings with the Aztecs, none of those victories have come on the road, however. UW swept SDSU last season, with both contests played in Laramie.
-WYO-
