LARAMIE, Wyo. (Jan. 28, 2026) – The Wyoming Cowgirls finished the game on an 8-0 run and hit four of its last five shots as it rallied to escape Wednesday night with a 47-42 win over Fresno State. Trailing 42-39 late, the Cowgirls, who held the Bulldogs scoreless the final 3:12, scored five points in 15 seconds to surge in front with 1:22 to play.
After Wyoming got the first hoop of the game, Fresno State scored the next five points. From there, both teams struggled offensively as the score was tied 9-9 late in the quarter at the media timeout. Out of the timeout, Henna Sandvik buried a 3-pointer before the two teams traded layups. The Cowgirls led 14-11 after one.
The Bulldogs scored the first points of the second quarter as both defenses continued to put their stamp on the game. Following a timeout, the UW offense continued to be cold as Fresno State reclaimed the lead. A free throw with under four minutes left in the half finally got the Cowgirls on the board in the frame. Wyoming scored just one point in the second and trailed 20-15 going into halftime.
Fresno State got the first bucket of the second half before back-to-back layups from the Cowgirls. From there, a Jane Rumpf 3-pointer on UW's third shot of the possession got Wyoming to within 23-22. The Cowgirls trailed 27-25 with 2:13 left in the quarter as the Bulldogs called a timeout. Before the timeout, UW had a couple of good looks to tie or take the lead but couldn't get the shots to fall. Following the timeout, the two exchanged points for the rest of the quarter as the Bulldogs led 33-30 after three.
Rumpf hit a deep 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter before Fresno State surged back in front with the next five to take control. Wyoming trailed 40-38 at the final media timeout thanks to a Malene Pedersen 3-pointer and a Lana Beslic driving layup. After the timeout, a Pedersen 3-pointer tied things at 42-42 before an Aurore Eyango steal-and-score put the Cowgirls in front for the first time since the second quarter, with just over a minute to play. Following a timeout by both teams, Wyoming forced a miss with 48.1 left.
Pedersen made two at the line on the other end before the Bulldogs called their final timeout with 11.1 remaining as UW led 46-42. Beslic blocked a Fresno State 3-pointer out of the timeout which led to another free throw from Pedersen to ice the game. Wyoming held the Bulldogs scoreless the final 3:12 of the victory.
"At halftime, I said we have to get back to doing the things that have gotten us here on this winning streak," said Head Coach Heather Ezell.
"I thought our passing was really bad in the second quarter. I thought we had to clean that up, we had to clean up our screening. We just talked about that. We were guarding. It was about the defensive end it was our offense and executing our motion."
The Cowgirls shot 17-of-51 (33.3-percent) on the night and went 7-of-22 from 3-point range, including hitting 6-of-12 in the second half and going 3-for-4 in the fourth quarter. Fresno State shot just 22.2-percent (14-63) and after making its first 3-pointer of the game, missed its final 16 from beyond-the-arc. UW did go just 6-of-12 at the free-throw line while the Bulldogs shot 13-of-15 at the stripe.
Fresno State was plus-three on the boards and had a 15-8 advantage in offensive rebounds but only outscored the Cowgirls just 7-5 in second chance points. The Bulldogs also forced UW into six more turnovers but had just an 11-9 edge in points off turnovers. Wyoming had a 9-2 advantage in fast break points on the night.
Pedersen led all scorers with 17 points on the night and has now scored in double figures in 40 consecutive games. She becomes just the fourth player in Mountain West history to score at least 10 points in 40 straight contests. It is also currently the fourth-longest active streak in Division I.
Sandvik also closed in double figures as she had 11. Sandvik led the Cowgirls with seven rebounds and three assists on the night. UW recorded seven blocks as a team and was led by Heidur Karlsdottir's three. Karlsdottir also added four boards and a pair of assists in the win.
Next up, the Cowgirls look to make it five consecutive wins with a trip to Grand Canyon at 1 p.m., Saturday.
-WYO-