LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 4, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirls opened the 2024-25 season with a defensive slugfest against Colorado Monday night inside the Arena-Auditorium. Unfortunately, the Buffs prevailed in the physical, hard-fought contest, 56-50.
After Colorado opened the game with the first hoop, five-straight points from Ola Ustowska gave the Cowgirls an early lead. Wyoming led 9-6 at the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, both teams continued to feel each other out as the Cowgirls led 15-10 after one.
The second quarter began with the continuation of the defensive struggle before the Buffs started to find their rhythm as the turnover bug started to bite the Cowgirls. Wyoming held onto a 19-18 at the media. The rest of the first half saw UW build the lead back up to 24-18 going into halftime as both teams continued to slug it out to end the second quarter.
Colorado came out and controlled the start of the second half, tying the game up a couple of times before four-straight points from Tess Barnes gave the Cowgirls a 30-26 lead with 5:50 left in the quarter. The Buffs started crashing the offensive boards hard and going to the free throw line in the third quarter. CU took its first lead since it was 2-0 shortly after the third quarter media timeout at 31-30. The Buffaloes lengthened their lead to end the frame and led 38-34 going to the fourth.
Wyoming opened the fourth with a pair of free throws before Colorado reasserted itself on both ends of the court. The Buffs pushed their advantage up to 44-36 with 6:44 left to play as the Cowgirls called a timeout. Following the timeout, a Barnes 3-pointer got the deficit down to five before the Buffs would respond. After back-to-back layups from Allyson Fertig cut the CU lead down to 48-46, Colorado would take a timeout with just 2:44 left.
The final 2:44 saw the two teams exchange layups before a key Cowgirl turnover gave the Buffs the ball back with just over a minute remaining. Wyoming was plagued by turnovers in the loss, committing 19 in the game. Colorado got a big hoop the next time down the court, which all but sealed the contest. CU got a block on the next Cowgirl possession before heading to the line a few times in the final 34 seconds.
"I thought in the third quarter their pressure really started to ramp up and we had a hard time making some entry passes," said Heather Ezell postgame.
"Right after we start to get things rolling, then a turnover would happen. Defensively, when I look at the statshee and see that only one player got into double figures for them and she did it by hitting tough shots and not making a lot of 3-pointers, I would have said that's exactly what our scout was. I thought we did everything we needed to defensively, but we shot ourselves in the foot by giving up too many offensive rebounds."
Neither team shot the ball well in the contest with both squads shooting below 40-percent. The Cowgirls shot just 3-of-15 from 3-point range while CU was just 1-for-10. Both teams shot the ball poorly from the free-throw line as well. Wyoming shot 9-for-15 (60-percent), with the Buffs going 13-of-24 (54.2-percent).
Colorado had a big advantage on the boards, especially on the offensive glass. CU out-rebounded the Cowgirls 45-34 on the night and had a plus-12 advantage on offensive rebounds, leading to a 12-5 second-chance point edge. The Buffs also had a 32-28 edge in points in the paint while scoring 15 bench points to Wyoming's two.
Despite being in foul trouble for most of the second half, Fertig led the Cowgirls with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Fertig pulled down five rebounds and had a pair of blocks. Barnes also finished in double figures with 13 points to go along with seven boards. Emily Mellema ended with eight and had four steals. Malene Pedersen led the Cowgirls with four assists in the loss while Ustowska added three.
Wyoming looks to bounce back with another matchup with a Big 12 foe this weekend. The Cowgirls travel to Provo to face BYU in a 2 p.m., contest Saturday.
-WYO-