Cowgirls open as road warriors

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming sophomore Hillary Carlson looks to get past a Metro State player last week.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

There’s some good to opening the season with a pair of road games. Wyoming Cowgirls’ head coach Joe Legerski would be at home.

The schedule wins out this time over Legerski’s wishes, as the Cowgirls open the regular season Friday night at Denver (7 p.m.), before facing a very tough Montana team Sunday in Missoula (1 p.m.).

“I’d prefer to be able to open up at home,” Legerski said. “You get in a comfortable surroundings, especially with a number of new players that we have. It is going to be a difficult challenge for them to step right out on the road early in this season.”

What this trip and other road non-conference games will do for the young Cowgirls is prepare them for the Mountain West Conference battles later this season.

“It’s a very difficult league to play in. The Mountain West Conference is one of the best leagues in the country,” Legerski said. “The environments we play in are just top notch. To be able to go on the road early against Denver, Montana, Gonzaga, Weber State, Oregon … these will be games that may not be the best for us as a young group early, but hopefully it prepares us for conference play.”

Denver won its exhibition over Adams State 65-36. The Pioneers return two starters and eight letterwinners to a team that went 11-19 overall and 6-12 in the Sun Belt Conference a year ago.

This is also the season opener for the Lady Griz, who went 1-0 in exhibition play. They return four starters and nine letterwinners to a team that went 25-7 overall and 13-3 in the Big Sky Conference a year ago.

This early of the season, Legerski said that all he is really concerned about is his own team.

“First of all, with the number of young players that we have, we’re still trying to figure out what the best rotation is for them,” he said. “The second thing is we have very little film to go on with your opponents. Denver has a new coach (Erik Jacobson), so that brings a new system that we will play with on Friday. With Montana, it is a different situation. They have so m many returning players, in fact four returning starters.”

Wyoming thumped UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions 93-48 and Metro State 79-49 in its two exhibition games. Freshman wing Emma Langford led the way, averaging 23.0 points a game in those two games. Look for freshmen Kristen Scheffler and Ashley Sickles to also be in the rotation to go along with seniors Megan McGuffey, Elisabeth Dissen and Rebecca Vanderjagt, along with sophomores Randi Richardson, Hillary Carlson and Jade Kennedy. Junior Aubrey Vandiver is still out with an illness.

Just what do the UW newcomers have to face in their first regular-season action as Cowgirls? Legerski said the intensity of the game will be their biggest challenge.

“I really believe that Division I basketball is physical, Division I basketball creates a situation where you have to be willing to compete for 40 minutes,” he said. “If you take a lapse, a team will go on a quick run and that may be the difference in the basketball game. That is the biggest adjustment …. everybody plays at such a high level,. The quicker we can get them to adjust to that, the better. We’ve been trying in practice and have been improving in that phase daily, but it is still young in their careers. I like the young talent, they are as talented group that we have recruited, they just need some time to gain some experience.”