FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Feb. 4, 2023) – It was a battle until the bitter end, but a Colorado State 3-pointer with two seconds left was the difference as the Wyoming Cowgirls' five-game road winning streak was snapped Saturday at CSU, 66-63. Saturday's contest featured 12 ties and 16 lead changes.
Both teams got out to strong starts to begin, as an Allyson Fertig putback layup put Wyoming in front for the first time in the contest, 9-7 with six minutes to go in the first. CSU had a 10-9 advantage at the first quarter media timeout. Following the timeout, Quinn Weidemann rattled home a pull-up jumper, but the Rams would control the rest of the frame, ending the first on a 9-0 run to take a 19-11 lead into the second.
After CSU opened the lead up to as many as 11 to begin the second, the Cowgirls clawed their way back to within one, 24-23 with an 8-0 run, capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers and forced a Ram timeout with 5:59 left in the half. UW continued its run out of the timeout, regaining the lead on a Marta Savic hook shot after CSU's first turnover of the game. The rest of the half, the two teams would clamp down defensively before the Rams would hit a buzzer-beating runner to knot things up at 32-32 heading into halftime.
The Cowgirls shot 42-percent from the field and hit 4-of-10 from 3-point range. Colorado State, meanwhile, shot 34.6-percent and made 3-of-11 from beyond-the-arc. The difference in the game's first 20 minutes was CSU going 11-for-12 at the free-throw line and Wyoming making 2-of-3 at the stripe. The first half featured seven ties and nine lead changes.
In the third, both teams opened the second half like they did the first, trading baskets and the lead. UW held a 44-42 lead at the media timeout, thanks to an Emily Mellema 3-pointer. Out of the timeout, the Cowgirls would get a layup to push the lead up to three points with 2:11 left in the frame. After that though, the Rams would close the quarter on an 8-2 run and carried a 51-48 advantage into the fourth.
Wyoming would get the first two baskets of the fourth quarter, taking a 52-51 lead with under seven minutes to play. From there though, Colorado State would go on a quick 7-0 burst to take a 58-52 lead with 5:16 left, forcing a UW timeout. The CSU run continued after the timeout, before consecutive layups from the Cowgirls got the deficit back to 60-56 with under three to play. After a pair of Tommi Olson free throws got it to one possession, Wyoming called another timeout, this time with 2:11 to go.
After the timeout, both teams would hit big 3-pointers and the Rams would call a timeout with 1:07 left. A Fertig putback with 30 seconds left tied things at 63-63 and forced a CSU timeout with 23.1 seconds left. The Cowgirls just couldn't get a stop when they needed to most, as CSU would hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left to escape with the win.
UW shot 21-of-60 (41.7-percent) and went 7-for-18 from 3-point range in the loss. CSU, meanwhile, hit 44-percent of its shots and made one more 3-pointer, the game-decider, going 8-of-20 from deep. The Rams more than doubled-up the Cowgirls at the free-throw line, hitting 14-of-16 at the stripe while UW went 6-for-8.
Weidemann led the Cowgirls with 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting and hit a trio of 3-pointers on the day. Olson had an all-around tremendous game in the loss, scoring 14 points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing-out five assists. Malene Pedersen and Fertig both scored in double figures as well, going for 11 and 10, respectively. Fertig also notched her second-straight and seventh double-double of the season as she pulled down 12 rebounds.
The Cowgirls dominated the glass, 41-23, and second-chance points, scoring 16 points off offensive rebounds while the Rams didn't score any. CSU had the edge in points in the paint (26-22) and fastbreak points (9-5). Both teams scored nine points off turnovers.
Wyoming now gets to return home for a pair of contests in Laramie next week. The Cowgirls host Utah State at 6:30 p.m., February 9.
-WYO-