LARAMIE – The Cowgirls, who have played in two of the last three Mountain West Tournament championship games, arrive in Las Vegas as underdogs this year.
 
Wyoming, the No. 8 seed, will open the tournament against No. 9 Air Force on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center (1 p.m., MW Network).
 
Head coach Heather Ezell wants her team to take the court with championship confidence despite its 10-19 record.
 
In their last two victories – an 82-72 win at UNLV on Feb. 11 and a 59-57 win over Grand Canyon on Tuesday in the regular season finale at the Arena-Auditorium – the Cowgirls showed they can win with an offense blitzkrieg (made 16 3-pointers against the Rebels) or by surviving a defensive slugfest (held the Lopes to 33.9% from the field).
 
"We are capable of lighting it up and making a lot of shots. At the same time, when 3s aren't falling we can really execute even against a very physical team," Ezell said. "(GCU) defends and we were able to find ways to score and different openings and attack a different way."
 
UW split the season series with the Falcons (13-17) with a 67-44 win in Laramie and a 69-61 overtime loss at the USAF Academy.
 
The matchup features the conference's top two scorers in Milahnie Perry, who is averaging 17.1 points and is Air Force's single-season record holder for points scored, and Malene Pedersen, who is averaging 16.8 points per game and coming off a 20-point performance in her senior night win over GCU.
 
"Just being a Cowgirl," Pedersen, who is eighth on UW's all-time scoring list with 1,684 points, said when asked what she was most proud of about her career. "Nothing more than that. I think it's a great program. I'm honored to play here and to play with all my teammates and play for the coaching staff here. It's a great community to be in and the support we get for every game. …
 
"I think we can go to Vegas and play great. It's going to be fun."
 
Henna Sandvik has been playing at a high level down the stretch. The senior from Finland, who transferred from Indiana to play her final season at UW, played all 40 minutes against GCU, finishing with 16 points, four assists, three rebounds and a block.
 
If the one-two Nordic punch is clicking, the Cowgirls will be a tough out.
 
"I enjoy playing with her so much and I was over the moon when she got here because I played against her growing up for the national teams back home," said Pedersen, who is from Denmark. "I knew how good of a player she was and I'm just glad she finally found the confidence and competitiveness in her to keep going even when it might not be working for her at the beginning of the game. It's a pleasure to play with her."
 
Jane Rumpf, a three-time MW freshman of the week honoree, is UW's third leading scorer. The 6-foot-2 forward had eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks in the previous meeting with Air Force and a career-high 27 points the next game at San Diego State when Pedersen sat out to rest.
 
If the Cowgirls advance to the quarterfinal round, they will face the top-seeded Aztecs (25-4) at 1 p.m. Sunday.
 
"We can be confident against anybody we play because we've seen what we're capable of doing," Ezell said. "There are very few teams in this league that we haven't been in a game with. If you don't get yourself in a big hole, who knows where some of those other games go. I think we've just got to talk about how we can play with anybody that shows up on the court. If we show up with that kind of confidence and execution, you never know where the ball might fall."
 
The Cowgirls lead the all-time series 64-5, including a 2-0 record in MW Tournament games. UW defeated the Falcons 77-64 in last year's quarterfinal round.
 
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.
 
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