Cowgirls come up short

Michael Smith/Wyoming Tribune Eagle photo

Wyoming senior Jodi Bolerjack tries to drive against pittsburgh in the NCAA Tournament in Albuquerqe, N.M.

Cowgirls take Panthers down to wire

By Richard Anderson
Wyomingsports.org

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The two teams were five seeds apart going into the game. They left The Pit on Saturday much closer.

Pittsburgh made the plays down the stretch and had enough to keep its season alive with a 63-58 win over the Wyoming Cowgirls in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Pittsburgh, 23-10, will face Baylor Monday night for the chance to move on to the Sweet 16, while Wyoming’s first-ever NCAA Tournament and season ended with the loss. The Cowgirls finished at 24-7.

“You can’t ask anything more than maybe a W,” Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said. “It’s what we talk about in our program, that we want to go out in four minute segments and try to win as many as possible. We had a chance within the last minute of the ballgame and sometimes you make shots and sometimes you don’t.”

One of Wyoming’s made shots was a big 3-pointer by senor forward Justyna Podziemska with 4:03 left in the game. It gave the Cowgirls a 54-53 edge. Unfortunately for Wyoming, it was its last lead, as Pittsburgh countered with 2:26 remaining on a 3-pointer by guard Mallorie Winn.

Wyoming senior Hanna Zavecz was a little strong on a runner in the paint and the Panthers came down and got a pair of free throws by 6-foor-3 senior post Marcedes Walker. The Pitt defense then forced UW into a shot clock violation, but the Cowgirls had another solid opportunity on a fast break. UW senior guard Jodi Bolerjack, however, missed a 3-pointer (38 seconds left) that would have cut the lead to one if successful.

Winn added a pair of free throws to make it a six-point game (60-54) with 33 seconds left. Wyoming did get two late baskets from senior guard Dominique Sisk and junior wing Megan McGuffey, but Pittsburgh hit three free throws to keep Wyoming at bay.

Legerski said the Cowgirls had their chances, with Bolerjack’s miss a key possession in the game.
“She was on the far left side and had a great look at the basket … we were down four. We pushed the floor and just came up short,” Legerski said. “That would have brought the game to one and now you can play the possessions out. Missing that one, now we have to make a stop.”

The Cowgirls had a few key turnovers in the second half, including two attempts to get the ball out of bounds underneath the basket by passing to the top of the key. Both times Pittsburgh was there to get the steal, including the second one with five minutes left for a layup by Shavonte Zellous.

“Every game comes down to the last four minutes,” Podziemska said. “They made more plays than we did. They got a big shot from number zero and then we missed one after that. That kind of tipped the game in their favor.”

“They are a talented team; you can tell they have been in that situation before and they knew what to do,” Zavecz added. “They made some big plays.”

Winn’s shot was her only field goal of the game and the basket not only gave her team the lead, but it put her over 1,000 points in her career.

Zellous also came up big for the Panthers, as the talented guard scored a team-high 21 points, including 13 in the second half. With Walker in foul trouble in the first half, Sophronia Sallard scored 13 of her season-high 15 points. Sallard went in averaging just 2.3 points a game.

“The first half ended in a tie and we thought it would be OK because Marcedes and Xenia (Stewart) didn’t get a lot of minutes,” Pittsburgh coach Agnus Berenato said. “Phronia (Sophronia Sallard) really stepped up in the first half. Shavonte really stepped up in the second half.”

Walker did have her moments with 13 points, 11 in the second half. Pittsburgh was fortunate in the first half, rallying to tie the game at 28-each at halftime as Walker played just eight minutes.

“I knew that Walker would come back in and be rested,” Legerski said. “I thought she really started out in the first 2½ minutes to be a force in the game. We ended up getting a quick timeout. When you have the ability to score on the inside and you start surrounding people around that post player with Zellous, Winn … it puts a great deal of pressure on you defensively because you cannot worry about doubling down, trying to take away one player, because they are going to hurt you somewhere else. Pittsburgh is very talented and they can beat you on a number of spots on the floor.”

Podziemska closed her Cowgirl career with one of her best performances of the season, with a game-high 23 points. She finished 8-of-17 from the field, including 5 of 12 3-pointers.

“We were really confident as a team,” Podziemska said. “We had nothing to lose tonight. We talked in the locker room before the game about confidence. We just went out and competed for 40 minutes.”

Zavecz and Bolerjack finished with 10 points each. Wyoming shot 40 percent from the field (20-of-50 and hit 8 of 27 3-pointers.

Pittsburgh shot 43 percent from the field and had a 35-27 rebounding edge.

“I thought we had some exceptional performances by the entire team,” Berenato said.
Despite the loss, Legerski said he was proud of the way his team hung in there and competed for 40 minutes.

“We knew it would be a 40-minute game,” Legerski said. “I’ll take my chances in the last four minutes, whether you make shots or don’t make shots, as long as you have that opportunity when it is worth something on the line. I thought we did that today.”