LARAMIE – Heather Ezell is usually calm, cool and collected when coaching on the court or holding court with the media.
 
But Wyoming head coach's voice cracked when asked how difficult it was to get the team's mindset right for the WBNIT after the Cowgirls' dream of playing in the NCAA Tournament ended with a three-overtime loss to San Diego State in the Mountain West championship game.
 
"It was tough," Ezell said. "It was tough for all of us, there's no doubt."
 
It was certainly a tough Thursday night for UW during the 65-48 loss to Texas Tech in front of a crowd of 2,409 at the Arena-Auditorium.
 
Allyson Fertig finished her legendary career with 17 points and 15 rebounds. The MW player of the year's two recruiting classmates, Emily Mellema and Tess Barnes, combined for 13 points, eight assists and two turnovers against the Lady Raiders' pressure defense.
 
The Cowgirls simply could not overcome a 34.7% shooting night from the field while Texas Tech's Bailey Maupin (17 points), Jasmine Shavers (17 points) and Kilah Freelon (10 points) combined to make 15 of 30 shots on the other end.
 
"That was such a blessing to have my last game officially at home," Fertig said. "We had a great crowd today, and this amazing group of girls did something special this season."
 
Fertig will go down as one of the greatest players to ever wear the brown and gold.
 
The 6-foot-4 center from Glendo leaves UW as the program's all-time leader in rebounds (1,216), second in scoring (1,860 points) behind Christine Fairless (1,933, 1985-89) and third in blocks (210) behind Lori Kline (322, 1979-82) and Hillary Carlson (212, 2008-11).
 
"They trusted me coming in, a Wyoming girl," said Fertig, who won three state championships at Douglas High School and probably would have won a fourth had the tournament not been canceled during the pandemic. "Wyoming (high school) basketball doesn't get a lot of credit just because it's so small. So being able to represent Wyoming and growing through the ups and downs and having a great support system to really grow into the person and player that I am is really amazing.
 
"I'm really going to miss that part and hope to see more girls, as the spotlight of women's basketball grows, see a lot more great players come through this program."
 
Thursday's game was also the finale for senior McKinley Dickerson, Ola Ustowska and Joslin Igo.
 
For Ezell, the finality of the end of the season had to feel like saying goodbye to six daughters leaving home at the same time.
 
"What I told my team there at the end was, 'All we can sit here and think about is the last two games of our season, but what we did this year was special. And don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened,'" Ezell said. "I can't put into words what (the senior class) has done for this program, but I'm really proud of them for giving us everything they've got."
 
Next year's team returns all-Mountain West guard Malene Pedersen and steady point guard Kati Ollilainen.
 
Four talented freshmen had the opportunity to learn the Cowgirl tough culture every day in practice from the seniors. UW signed four high prospects in November that will join the youth movement next season.
 
"The sky is the limit," Fertig said of the future of Cowgirl basketball. "We have a really good culture here and have done a good job of keeping players in this crazy world of NIL. We do a good job of doing the work beforehand and recruiting really great people.
 
"I'm excited to see what they do next year, and the seasons beyond that."
 
If you are interested in learning more about NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) or would like to support our student-athletes, please visit 1wyo.org. 1WYO was created out of Wyoming's culture of neighbor helping neighbor. The mission is to promote and strengthen local charitable organizations and develop Wyoming student athletes.
 
Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.