LARAMIE, Wyo. (Feb. 9, 2023) – The Wyoming Cowgirls put together a complete defensive effort Thursday night inside the Arena-Auditorium, defeating Utah State, 70-48. The 48 points allowed are tied for the fewest given up this season against a Mountain West opponent for the Cowgirls.
Wyoming came out firing, scoring the first eight points of the contest and forcing a Utah State timeout just 2:35 into the game. The Cowgirls got the first hoop out of the timeout before the Aggies got on the board with a pair of free throws. UW would push the lead up to as many as 16 in the first quarter and led 18-2 going to the second.
The Aggies came out in the second and hit a couple of 3-pointers to get the offense going a bit but UW would respond with strong play on both ends of the court after that. The Cowgirls would force a second Utah State timeout, leading 30-12 with 5:14 remaining in the half. Wyoming continued to smother USU following the timeout and led by as many as 37-12 in the second. UW led 41-18 at the half after assisting on nine of its 13 made field goals in the first 20 minutes.
The Cowgirls opened the second half with the first four points before a USU 3-pointer got it going in the quarter. Wyoming opened things back up again later in the frame, pushing the lead to 52-25 at the media timeout. UW continued to play solid defense the rest of the third but struggled a bit offensively and led 55-31 going to the fourth.
It was more of the same from the Cowgirls in the fourth quarter, as they broke the lead open to 60-33 with 6:38 as USU took another timeout. After the timeout, the Aggies would cut into the deficit as UW got a little sloppy with the ball, scoring seven-straight to make it 60-40. The Cowgirls would get it back to a 25-point margin after that and closed things out from there.
Allyson Fertig led all scorers with 22 points on the night in just 18 minutes of action. Fertig went nearly perfect on the night, shooting 8-of-8 from the floor and going 6-of-7 at the free-throw line. Fertig also added seven rebounds and collected four blocks and a steal, defensively. It was the second 20-point output this season for the sophomore and fourth of her career.
Malene Pedersen also finished in double figures on the night with 12. Pedersen also added six boards and three assists. Tommi Olson and Quinn Weidemann chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively. Olson once again had an all-around solid performance as she grabbed five rebounds, four of them offense and had three assists. Emily Mellema led the Cowgirls in the win with four assists while Tess Barnes set career-highs with eight rebounds and four blocks against the Aggies.
Wyoming (16-8, 9-4 MW) didn't shoot the ball particularly well, going 23-of-58 (39.7-percent) from the field and hitting 6-of-24 from 3-point range. However, Utah State was held to just 25.9-percent and went 6-for-22 from beyond-the-arc. Both teams shot the ball well at the charity stripe as the Aggies went 12-for-13 and Wyoming was 18-of-22.
On the night, the Cowgirls assisted on 16 of their 23 made field goals, and had season-highs with 51 rebounds and 10 blocks as a team. Wyoming doubled-up the Aggies in points in the paint, 32-16 and had an 18-2 advantage in second-chance points. USU scored 17 points off Wyoming turnovers, while the Cowgirl bench scored 13 points.
"The 51 rebounds I'd like to think stems for the most part from pretty darn good defense, that's pretty impressive," said Associate Head Coach Ryan Larsen postgame.
"I'm not a big blocked shots stats guy, but we did it without fouling. We'll let Allyson do that down there, that is a skill. Tess was moving her feet and right place at the right time on a lot of her blocks tonight. Tess played a whale of a game tonight without scoring a point. We needed a game like this tonight, even though I thought we turned the ball over too much tonight. There was times tonight that we were competing against ourselves."
Next for Wyoming is the second contest of the season against Air Force. The Falcons come to town for a 2 p.m., contest Saturday inside the AA. Saturday will also be Wyoming's annual "Bounce Cancer" Game.
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