LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 16, 2023) – The Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team faces a tough road test Saturday as they travel to face Gonzaga in a 3 p.m., Mountain Time contest Saturday. The Bulldogs are 3-1 this season and are receiving votes in the WBCA Coaches Top-25 women's basketball poll.
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on ESPN-Plus and can be heard on certain stations of the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call. Some stations will be broadcasting the Cowboy Football game.
ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming (2-1) passed its first road test earlier this week, winning a defensive battle at Denver, 58-41. The Cowgirls held the Pioneers to just under 30-percent shooting from the field overall and 6-of-32 from 3-point range. Emily Mellema led the way with a season-high 15 points while Tess Barnes and Malene Pedersen added 12 points each. Mellema also added four boards, four assists and a pair of steals in the win while the duo of Barnes and Pedersen both made two 3-pointers in the contest.
Defensively, Pedersen and Ustowska each had two steals as well, while Allyson Fertig notched a season-high four blocks against DU. Overall, the Cowgirls again had a stellar game at the free-throw line, going 15-of-16 as a team. On the season, Wyoming leads the nation in team free-throw percentage, shooting 91.7-percent (44-of-48 overall). Fertig and Mellema lead the way on the team with both shooting 9-of-10 at the stripe.
Three games into the campaign, Fertig leads the Cowgirls averaging 11 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. Pedersen, meanwhile, is averaging 10.3 points and four boards per contest and has eight assists overall. Mellema is averaging nine points a game while Barnes is at 8.3 per and has a team-best nine assists.
SCOUTING GONZAGA
Gonzaga has boasted a vaunted offensive attack through its first four games of 2023-24. The Bulldogs are averaging 82.3 points per game as a team and shooting nearly 48-percent overall from the floor and 41.4-percent from 3-point range. Gonzaga has also been great on the glass, pulling down 12 offensive rebounds per game and 37.5 overall as a team. GU, who is 2-0 at home this season, is averaging nearly eight steals per game and over five blocks, defensively.
The Bulldogs are once again led by Yvonne Ejim, who leads the way with 19.3 points per game this season on 66-percent shooting. Ejim also averages 7.5 boards per contest, second on the team, and leads the Bulldogs with seven blocks. Eliza Hollinsgworth leads Gonzaga with eight rebounds a contest and has six blocks on the young season. Twins Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong are second and third, respectively on the team with 16.5 and 13.8 points per game. Kaylynne leads the squad averaging just under six assists per game.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST GONZAGA
Wyoming has lost eight straight in the series with its only win coming in the first-ever meeting with the Bulldogs, a 69-60 win in Spokane in 1989. Last time the Cowgirls made the trip to Gonzaga, the Bulldogs held on for a 54-47 win in 2021. This is the fifth season in a row that the two programs have met. In two games against Gonzaga, Marta Savic is averaging 6.5 points and six rebounds per game on 57-percent shooting. Fertig is shooting 58.3-percent and averaging 8.5 points and five boards in a pair of career games.
-WYO-
