LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 2, 2025) – The Wyoming Cowgirls, fresh off a pair of exhibition victories the last two Fridays, officially tip-off the 2025-26 regular season Tuesday evening as Saint Mary's comes to town for a 6:30 p.m., contest.
Tuesday's game will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.
ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming, who was picked sixth in the Preseason Mountain West Poll that was released in October by the league office, received 194 points in the poll. UNLV was tabbed to repeat as Mountain West favorite and received 19 of the 27 first-place votes. San Diego State was picked second (three first-place votes), Colorado State is third (one), Boise State is fourth (one) while New Mexico (2) rounds-out the top five. Grand Canyon (one), who is in its first season in the league, was picked just behind the Cowgirls in seventh.
Malene Pedersen, who was a 2024-25 All-Mountain West Team member, was picked to the Preseason All-Mountain West squad. Pedersen ranked eighth in Mountain West play in scoring last season averaging 15.6 points per game. Her 53-percent shooting overall from the floor was second-best in the MW. In conference-only contests, Pedersen was sixth in the league with 3.1 assists per game while her 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio was tied for third in the conference. Pedersen, who was also named to last season's Mountain West Championship All-Tournament Team, for the second time in her career, was 11th in the league in scoring for all games, averaging 14 points per game and was ninth with 2.9 assists a contest. Pedersen shot 49-percent from the floor overall, made 38.3-percent of her shots from 3-point range and was second on the team with 51 made 3-pointers. Pedersen scored in double figures in 29 contests in 2024-25 and had six games with 20-plus points.
The Cowgirls need to replace four starters off last season's squad, including the Mountain West Player of the Year (Allyson Fertig) and the league's Defensive Player of the Year (Emily Mellema). Tess Barnes and Ola Ustowska, who also started in 2024-25, signed professional contracts to play in Europe over the summer, as did Fertig.
In addition to Pedersen, UW returns eight letterwinners from last season in Logann Alvar, Lana Beslic, Mikyn Hamlin, Heidur Karlsdottir, Karoline Lundin, Payton Muma, Kati Ollilainen and Madi Symons. The Cowgirls welcome six newcomers to the 2025-26 squad. Wyoming has four new freshmen in Liv Blomkvist (Stockholm, Sweden), Katie Harrington (Victoria, Australia), Jane Rumpf (Denver, Colo.) and Peyton Wohlford (Smithville, Mo.). The Cowgirls also have a pair of transfers this season in Aurore Eyango (Lille, France – St. Bonaventure) and Henna Sandvik (Helsinki, Finland – Indiana).
SCOUTING SAINT MARY'S
Saint Mary's was picked to finish seventh in the preseason WCC Poll. The Gaels return nine players from 2024-25, including 2025 WCC Sixth Player of the Year in Emily Foy. Foy averaged 8.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game last season while shooting 43-percent from the floor and 35-percent from 3-point range. Foy is SMC's leading returning scorer from last season. Saint Mary's has a pair of transfers this season who spent 2024-25 at Santa Clara, including Malia Latu who averaged 10.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and nearly three assists per game last season. Abigail Shoff is the leading returning rebounder from last season for the Gaels, after averaging 3.7 boards per game in 2024-25.
SMC averaged 62.1 points per game last season and allowed 64.2 per game. The Gaels shot 43-percent from the floor and 32-percent from 3-point range and allowed just 40.7-percent shooting from opponents and 31-percent from beyond-the-arc. Saint Mary's was a minus-3.5 in the rebounding margin in 2024-25 but averaged more assists per game than its opponents and had fewer turnovers last year. The Gaels shot an impressive 74.6-percent from the free-throw line as a team. Saint Mary's went 5-10 in road contests last season. SMC averaged nearly nine steals per game in '24-'25.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST SAINT MARY'S
Wyoming is 2-3 in program history against Saint Mary's. The Cowgirls are 1-2 all time in Laramie in the series and won the last meeting with the Gaels back in November of 2019, 69-67 at home. UW erased a 13-point deficit in that contest to rally for the win.
-WYO-
