LARAMIE, Wyo. (Dec. 19, 2022) – The Wyoming Cowgirls close-out their non-conference slate with a Tuesday meeting on the road at Wichita State. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m., Mountain Time. Tuesday's game is the second in the Cowgirls' two-game road swing to close out pre-Mountain West action.
The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN Plus and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.
ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming (6-4) is coming off a 66-39 loss Sunday afternoon at Nebraska. The Cowgirls were within four points with 5:31 to play in the third quarter before a big run from the Cornhuskers the rest of the game distanced themselves from UW. Nebraska outscored the Cowgirls 20-5 in the fourth quarter. Quinn Weidemann led Wyoming with 10 points in the loss.
Despite the loss, Wyoming still ranks well in the Mountain West in multiple statistical categories. The Cowgirls are third in the league and 16th in the country allowing opponents to score at just under 53 points per game. UW's defensive field goal percentage of 36.4-percent and 26.8-percent shooting from 3-point range ranks third- and second-best, respectively in the league. The Cowgirls' 1.09 assist-to-turnover ratio as a team ranks third in the MW.
Weidemann continues to lead the Cowgirls in scoring average at 12.7 per contest while Grace Ellis is second at 9.8 per. Weidemann is shooting 43.4-percent from 3-point range and is third in the Mountain West with 2.3 made 3-pointers per contest. Ellis, meanwhile, is shooting 52.7-percent from the field and has made 10-of-21 from beyond-the-arc. Defensively, Allyson Fertig leads the Cowgirls with 15 blocks and 10 steals this season. Fertig is averaging 9.3 points and a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game this season while shooting over 51-percent from the field.
IN THE RECORD BOOK
Weidemann is fourth all-time at Wyoming in made 3-pointers with 221 and is sixth all-time in attempts with 536. Her career 3-point percentage of .412 is fourth all-time among Cowgirls. Weidemann's 85.9-percent career free-throw percentage is tied for fourth all-time while her 268 career assists are tied for 16th in program history. Weidemann is also 18th all-time with 1,240 career points while her 127 games played are fourth in program history. Tommi Olson has 154 career steals which ranks 10th all-time in program history. Olson's 305 career assists are 13th all-time. Fertig, meanwhile, has 12 career double-doubles, which are tied for 16th in program history. Fertig's 43 career blocks are tied for 20th in program history.
SCOUTING WICHITA STATE
Wichita State comes into Tuesday's contest at 9-2 overall and is a perfect 5-0 at home and is beating opponents by an average of 14.6 points per game in Wichita. DJ McCarty leads the Shockers in scoring at 13.1 points per game and has a team-best 42 assists and 23 steals in 2022-23. Jane Asinde and Trajata Colbert are both averaging 11.7 points per game with Asinde averaging a double-double as she averages a team-best 11.4 rebounds per contest. Curtessia Dean also scores in double figures at 10.8 per. As a team, WSU is averaging nearly 70 points per game and is allowing 61.3 a contest.
The Shockers are shooting 43-percent from the floor and just under 30-percent from 3-point range. Wichita State opponents shoot at a 35.6-percent clip and 28-percent from beyond-the-arc. WSU has been a monster on the boards this year, averaging 42.5 per game and has better than a plus-10 rebounding differential. WSU has committed nearly 50 more turnovers than recorded assists in 2022-23 and has 20 more turnovers than its opponents. The Shockers are pretty good at not fouling, committing under 15 fouls per contest.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST WICHITA STATE
The two teams have split each of the previous four contests in the series. The Cowgirls lost the lone meeting in the series in Wichita, 68-62 in 1994. The Shockers won last season's meeting in Laramie, 57-48. Ellis had 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the 2021 loss.
-WYO-
