LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 29, 2025) – The Wyoming Cowgirls put together an impressive start-to-finish contest Saturday afternoon, handing South Dakota its first loss of the season. The Cowgirls, who led for over 32 minutes of the contest, came away with a 66-59 victory in their non-conference home finale.
"I thought we were able to carry over our confidence from Tuesday's win," said Head Coach Heather Ezell.
"We brought that confidence into practice and into this game with an undefeated team coming onto your home court, you got to have confidence to be able to come in and play the way we played today. We've been talking about practicing at a game speed, practicing with a mindset of imagining yourself in game situations so that you're ready in those moments when they come in a game."
Wyoming got off to a quick start, opening the scoring with back-to-back layups. The Cowgirls got their first three hoops on layups, off Henna Sandvik assists. USD would battle back to take its first lead of the game before the media timeout as things were tied 8-8 at the first timeout. Following the timeout, both teams played strong defense as the two traded the lead before the end of the quarter. UW led 12-11 after one.
The two teams traded a pair of free throws to begin the second quarter before Malene Pedersen got a couple of layups to fall to put Wyoming up 18-15. From there, both squads started trading hoops before back-to-back 3-pointers from Jane Rumpf and Lana Beslic forced a Coyote timeout with the Cowgirls leading 27-21 with 4:20 remaining in the half. After the timeout, the South Dakota offense got going but timely Wyoming baskets helped it maintain a 32-29 halftime lead.
Logann Alvar started the second half like she did the first, getting the Cowgirls a hoop. Layups from Pedersen and Alvar pushed the Wyoming lead to 38-29 with 6:55 left in the third as USD called a timeout. Out of the timeout, both teams traded points back-and-forth before the Coyotes were able to cut the deficit down to 43-38 at the media timeout. The rest of the quarter, the two teams traded baskets as Wyoming led 48-43 going to the fourth.
After the Cowgirls got the first four points of the fourth, USD started battling back once again. The Coyotes went on a run as the UW offense went cold before a Sandvik turnaround jumper and Beslic reverse layup put Wyoming back up 58-51 with 3:33 left to play as South Dakota called a timeout. After the timeout, the Cowgirls committed three straight turnovers, unable to lengthen the lead. The Coyotes took advantage, as Wyoming took a timeout with the lead down to just three with 1:44 remaining.
Out of the timeout, the Cowgirls turned it over again but were able to get a stop on the other end. An Alvar layup ended the Wyoming drought with 49.2 to go. After another defensive stop, Pedersen knocked down a pair at the line as the lead was 62-55 Cowgirls. USD got a quick hoop on the other end before Payton Muma hit two more at the stripe. UW advanced the ball with a timeout with 6.2 left after another Coyote layup before Pedersen salted the game away with more free throws.
Pedersen led all scorers with her second consecutive 20-plus point outing. Pedersen scored 25 and made a career-high 11 free throws. Alvar poured in a career-high 16 on an efficient 8-of-10 from the floor while also adding five rebounds. Sandvik chipped in with eight points and also grabbed four assists and pulled down four boards. Madi Symons had a strong all-around game in the win as she led the way with six rebounds and a career-high six assists while adding a pair of steals and four points.
Off the bench, Beslic had six points, four rebounds and two assists. Rumpf, who hit that 3-pointer, was also a terror defensively on the day. Rumpf had two blocks and a steal in the win and also grabbed five rebounds.
Wyoming shot 47-percent in the win and made four 3-pointers. South Dakota went 0-for-11 from beyond-the-arc and shot just 38-percent from the field. The Cowgirls shot the ball tremendously at the free-throw line, going 16-of-17. USD was also solid, making 11-of-14. Wyoming assisted on 17 of its 23 made baskets.
Coming into the game, the Coyotes were out-rebounding their opponents by 14.6 rebounds per contest. However, Wyoming held a 35-33 edge in rebounds. USD had an 18-9 advantage in points off turnovers and got 31 points from its bench. South Dakota had 44 points in the paint, but the Cowgirls were also solid in that department, scoring 32 inside.
Next up for the Cowgirls will be a trip to face Colorado Sunday, December 7 for a 1 p.m., contest.
-WYO-