USAFA, Colo. (Jan. 6, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirls shot a season-high 61.7-percent from the field, had four players in double figures and a fifth with eight points on the way to a 68-51 victory Saturday on the road over Air Force. Wyoming moves to 3-0 to begin Mountain West play, its best start to league play since winning the first three of the 2019-20 season.
The two teams began the game feeling one another out, as the lead changed hands three times before the first media timeout. The Cowgirls (8-6, 3-0 MW) led 7-5 at the media timeout as Tess Barnes had five early points for Wyoming. After the timeout, AFA hit its second 3-pointer of the game, which sparked a Falcon run of 14-7 to close out the first. Air Force, who only shot 26-percent from three coming into the game, went 3-for-6 from beyond-the-arc in the first 10 minutes. The Falcons led 19-15 after one.
Air Force got a pair of free throws to begin the second before the Cowgirls responded with back-to-back layups. Wyoming would eventually take the lead later in the frame, 25-23 thanks to a pair of layups from Allyson Fertig and two free throws from McKinley Dickerson. UW led 30-26 at the media. The Cowgirls were on a 13-3 run over 5:02 prior to the timeout. Following the media, the run was pushed to 15-2 after another layup. From there, the Cowgirls continued to dominate inside to end the half and carried a 36-30 lead into the break.
The third quarter began with the two teams trading stops on the defensive end before an Emily Mellema layup broke the seal on the half. After a Malene Pedersen layup gave UW a 10-point lead, 40-30, AFA would call a timeout with 6:41 left in the quarter. Pedersen got another layup out of the timeout as the Cowgirl lead was extended to 12. Wyoming continued to pour it on, forcing another Falcon timeout with 4:51 left and the lead at 47-33. Out of the timeout, the lead was pushed out even further, to 16 points on a mid-range jumper from Mellema. Air Force was able to get back into it a bit to end the third, as the UW lead was cut to 51-39 going to the fourth. The Falcons continued to shoot the ball well from beyond-the-arc, keeping them within striking distance.
It was all Cowgirls to open the fourth as a 10-2 run to begin the frame, capped by a Mellema three-point play, put Wyoming up by 20, 61-41 with six minutes to play. AFA would get the deficit down to 14 the final five minutes of the game, as it was relatively uneventful down the stretch for the Cowgirls. UW spent much of the latter half of the quarter bleeding the clock.
Mellema led all scorers with a season-best 17 in the win. Mellema shot 7-of-13 from the field, grabbed four rebounds and tied for the team lead with four assists, along with Ola Ustowska. Fertig was a rebound shy of her second consecutive double-double as she closed the game with 13 and nine while going 6-of-8 shooting. Dickerson and Pedersen added 10 points each and shot a combined 9-of-15 from the field. Barnes had eight and two of Wyoming's three 3-pointers.
The Cowgirls dominated inside, outscoring the Falcons 50-20 in the paint. UW also had a plus-14 rebound advantage and a 14-3 lead in second-chance points. The Cowgirls also kept care of the ball for the most part, turning the ball over 11 times. AFA came into the contest forcing over 21 turnovers a game.
Wyoming went 29-of-47 overall and made three of its seven attempts from beyond-the-arc. The Falcons shot 42.6-percent (20-47) and hit 7-of-14 from deep, which kept them in it through the first two and a half quarters.
UW now returns home Wednesday, January 10 to host San Diego State. It will be the Cowgirls' lone game of the week.
-WYO-