Wyo4news Staff, [email protected] [GoWyo.com]
BOISE, IDAHO — The Wyoming Cowgirls extended their road winning streak to five consecutive Saturday afternoon with a hard-fought physical battle with Boise State, winning 69-62. The Cowgirls, who won for just the third time ever in Boise, were without leading-scorer Quinn Weidemann and outscored the Broncos 19-9 in the fourth quarter.
Allyson Fertig got the Cowgirls’ (14-7, 7-3 MW) first two baskets of the game as the first quarter was a physical battle to begin. Malene Pedersen accounted for the next seven points for Wyoming after that, as the Cowgirls led 15-9 at the first-quarter media timeout. UW went on a 13-2 scoring run over 3:15 in the first after Boise State opened the game going up 7-2. Following the timeout, the Broncos got things going again offensively, thanks to hitting the offensive glass before Pedersen’s second 3-pointer of the game pushed UW back out to a 20-16 lead before the end of the quarter.
Boise State came out strong to open the second quarter, tying things up at 20-20. BSU would cut into the lead the rest of the half as the Cowgirls began to turn the ball over and the lead was down to 38-33 in favor of Wyoming at halftime.
The third quarter, like the first two, began with a strong Boise State start as it tied things at 40-40. After that, back-to-back hoops from the Cowgirls made it 44-40. Boise State led 53-50 heading into the fourth.
Tommi Olson rattled in a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter before BSU scored the next four points to go back up by four. The Cowgirls would get to within one, 59-58 with 6:30 to play on a Pedersen corner 3-pointer and then reclaimed the lead on an Olson twisting layup on the next possession. After that, UW would continue the run on a Marta Savic putback before a Barnes 3-pointer pushed the Cowgirls in front 65-59 with under four left. Following the media timeout, UW would go up 69-62 with under two minutes to play before physical play from both teams kept the game at that score with 27.2 seconds left. Out of a timeout, Boise would just miss a 3-pointer, Wyoming would get the rebound and run out the rest of the game from there.
Boise State outscored the Cowgirls 23-9 in points off turnovers and had 35 bench points to Wyoming’s 14. UW had 34-24 points in the paint advantage and ended up out-rebounding the league’s best rebounding team, 36-28 on the day.
The Cowgirls return home for their next contest as San Jose State comes to Laramie for a 6:30 p.m., contest Thursday, February 2.
