Laramie, WY – The Wyoming Cowgirls used their strong team defense and willingness to make the extra pass to shut down the Western Colorado Mountaineers, 64-28, Friday night in an exhibition game in the Arena-Auditorium. The nearly 3,000 fans on hand watched as Wyoming forced 20 turnovers and held the Mountaineers to just eight made field goals.
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“We pride ourselves on being able to play team defense,” head coach Joe Legerski said. “When you make it difficult, make people score through you and don’t give up anything easy, then all of a sudden, I think they start rushing shots. There were plenty of shots that were open, but we did a good job early to get the pace where we wanted to, and to say we’re going to be here to challenge every shot you take.”
Freshman Tereza Vitulova led the way for the Cowgirls with a double-double in her first collegiate game. She scored 14 points and had 12 rebounds. Senior Bailee Cotton joined Vitulova in double-figure scoring with 12 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the field. The Cowgirls needed her scoring early while the rest of the team settled in to the game.
Senior Rachelle Tucker chipped in eight points, five rebounds and a team-leading four steals. Clara Tapia effortlessly directed the Cowgirl offense and dished out five assists with zero turnovers in just 21 minutes of action.
“It was a good start to the season,” Legerski said. “You never know when you graduate seniors and you have people in new roles, how they’re going to play. We have a number of freshman, and they played very well tonight. It’s a good sign for us. I was happy with the way we started. The veteran players with Clara (Tapia), Taylor (Rusk) and Bailee (Cotton) really set the tone tonight early. I thought that was important. You could see the nerves with the freshmen when they came in, and then the second time they came through, they played a little more relaxed. I was happy to see how Tereza (Vitulova) played. To get a double-double her first night out, she played extremely well.”
The season officially begins on Wednesday, November 7th when the Cowgirls host Chadron State in the Arena-Auditorium at 6:30 p.m.
