Cowgirl Basketball Suffers First Loss Against UNI, 55-40

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ORLANDO, Fla. (Nov. 25, 2017) – A tough shooting night from the Wyoming basketball team (4-1 overall) led to its first defeat of the season, 55-40, against the Northern Iowa Panthers (2-2 overall) on Saturday.

The Cowgirls were led by senior Liv Roberts who recorded her fifth double-figure scoring game of the season with ten points along with a game-high nine rebounds. Junior Bailee Cotton chipped in eight points followed by junior Sladjana Rakovic with five. UW shot a season low 17-of-52 (.327) from the field and failed to make a three-point field goal going 0-of-8 (.000) from beyond the arc.

“Northern Iowa knew they needed to take away our three point shooting and they did,” head coach Joe Legerski said. “We got to the basket but didn’t convert when we had the opportunities. I thought we were trying to get away from pressure instead of attacking it and even in the second half we only made one attempt from three. We were open at times but we weren’t looking to shoot the ball. Give Northern Iowa credit. You can see why they received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament last season. Their top four of five scorers are back, they play with a toughness and aggressiveness, and we didn’t match that.”

The Panthers were led by junior guard Mikaela Morgan with a game-high 15 points, including 12 that came in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Megan Maahs followed with ten points and nine boards, while senior Kennedy Kirkpatrick added nine points. UNI shot 19-of-54 (.352) from the field and 8-of-22 (.364) from three. Northern Iowa out rebounded Wyoming 47-29

Out of the break, Cotton hit a bucket to cut the lead to two, 27-25. Seven unanswered by the Panthers opened up a nine-point advantage, 34-25. A basket by sophomore Taylor Rusk would start an 8-2 run to pull the Cowgirls to within three, 36-33, early in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, Morgan and sophomore Abby Gerrits hit four three-point field goals over the next two minutes to push the lead back to 15, 48-33. A basket by junior Marta Gomez at the 5:06 mark would end a three minute scoring drought for Wyoming, but the deficit was too much to overcome with the Cowgirls coming up short, 55-40.

Wyoming got it going early by scoring six of the first eight points to take a 6-2 lead. The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run to pull ahead by four, 10-6. Free throws by Rakovic ended a five minute scoring drought and the Cowgirls would pull to within one, 13-12, with a 6-3 scoring run. Junior Ellie Howell hit a three to close out the quarter to make it 16-12 in favor of UNI after one. Sophomore Heidi Hillyard hit one of two free throws to push the Panthers to a five-point advantage, 17-12, early in the second. A three-point play by Roberts started a 7-1 run to give Wyoming its first lead since the first quarter, 19-18. Northern Iowa outscored the Cowgirls 9-5 the final three minutes of the half to take a 27-23 lead headed in to the locker room.

Roberts led all scorers with seven followed by Cotton with four and sophomore Selale Kepenc with four points and a team-high three rebounds. The Cowgirls were 10-of-28 (.357) from the field and 0-of-7 (.000) from beyond the arc. The Panthers were led by Howell with five points while three other players had four each. Maahs had five rebounds. UNI was 10-of-26 (.385) from the field and 3-of-8 (.375) from beyond the arc.

Wyoming will close out the weekend tomorrow morning against the IUPUI Jaguars. The game is set for 9 a.m. MT at CFE Arena in Orlando.