LARAMIE, Wyo. (Feb. 4, 2026) – The Wyoming Cowgirls had a tough stretch in the second and third quarters Wednesday night as they came up short to New Mexico, 58-51. Wyoming found its range from beyond-the-arc in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late in the loss.
Both teams were a bit disjointed offensively to begin the game as New Mexico scored the first five points of the contest. The Cowgirls countered right back with the next seven and led 7-5 at the media timeout. After the timeout, the two teams traded baskets back-and-forth to end the quarter as Wyoming led 11-10 after one.
The second quarter began the same as the first ended, with both teams trading hoops. From there, the Lobos went on a run and pushed in front 18-14 as the Cowgirl offense went ice cold. Following the media, the UNM run continued up to a 10-point advantage. Wyoming got plenty of good looks to get the offense going but trailed at the half 29-19. UW assisted on 7-of-8 field goals in the first half but shot just 33-percent from the floor.
The Cowgirls got the first two hoops of the second half and cut the deficit down to four, 31-27. New Mexico led 33-27 at the timeout. Wyoming had some open 3-pointers but couldn't get them to drop. Out of the timeout, UW got it down to four again, but after that, UNM would push its lead to 46-33 after three as it got hot from beyond-the-arc.
Peyton Wohlford hit a 3-pointer to open the fourth before the Lobos would respond right back. The New Mexico lead was 52-42 at the media. Wohlford and Malene Pedersen kept Wyoming within striking distance as they combined to hit four triples before the timeout. The final 4:46 of the game saw UW get to within eight with 2:44 to go. After a Cowgirl timeout, UNM hit a 3-pointer to all but put the game away.
"I thought the first quarter we came out and we were battling, I thought it was that second quarter that cost us," said Head Coach Heather Ezell.
"We had some turnovers and those stacked up at the wrong moments where they converted, and they went on a little bit of a run where we were just unable to hit shots. We had some good looks they just rimmed in-and-out and that really hurt us."
Pedersen led all scorers with 17 points and added five rebounds, and along with Wohlford, hit a trio of triples. Henna Sandvik and Wohlford added nine points each. The nine points are a career-best for Wohlford. Aurore Eyango added eight off the bench as well. Jane Rumpf led the Cowgirls with seven rebounds and had three blocks while Payton Muma recorded a game-high five assists.
Wyoming assisted on 14 of its 20 made shots in the game and shot 42.6-percent overall and 29.6-percent (8-27) from beyond-the-arc. The Lobos got eight more shot attempts than the Cowgirls, converting on 41.8-percent (23-55) form the floor and made 8-of-28 from 3-point range. UNM outscored Wyoming 26-20 in the paint and had a 14-11 edge in points off turnovers. Despite out-rebounding UW 34-28 and having six more offensive boards, both teams had four second-chance points.
Next for the Cowgirls as they look to end this two-game skid is a trip south for round one of the Border War with Colorado State Saturday. Tip is 2 p.m., in Fort Collins.
-WYO-