Inside-out, Cowgirls roll past Roadrunners

Richard Anderson photos
At top, Wyoming senior Elisabeth Dissen goes up strong underneath against Metro State. At bottom, Cowgirl freshman Kristen Scheffler hits on one of her three 3-pointers in the game.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Until Wyoming coach Joe Legerski cleared his bench in the final minutes Friday night in the exhibition against Metro State, Elisabeth Dissen and Hillary Carlson were the only Cowgirls not attempting or making 3-point field goals.

At that time, seven Cowgirls hit 13 3-pointers.

That was fine with Dissen; she’ll stick to the yeoman’s work inside. She did that pretty well too, hitting 7-of-10 from the field and scoring 14 points in the Cowgirls 79-49 win.

“I think definitely, I like to stick to my strengths,” Dissen said. “We have really good 3-point shooters, so I’ll let one of them shoot.”

Dissen will be counted on as muscle down low to help compliment the dangerous Wyoming outside game.

“I think that is one of the good things this year, we really can go inside-out,” Dissen said. “When it is working on the inside, we can do that, and we have really good shooters, so we can do that too.”

It’s not like Dissen, at 6-foot-1, doesn’t like to run the floor once in a while. She was rewarded for her hustle in the second half when sophomore point guard Randi Richardson spun a 360 and dished her the ball for a layup.”

“I was like, ‘Wow, that was an awesome move Randi,’” Dissen said with a smile.

The Division II Roadrunners proved to be a little more of a challenge than Tuesday’s opponent -- CS-Colorado Springs -- and stayed with Wyoming at times on Friday. Metro State was also a little more physical, and when push came to shove, Dissen and the Cowgirls responded.

“We’re going to have problems with physical teams,” Legerski said. “I thought they got physical at times tonight. Rebecca (Vanderjagt) and Hillary (Carlson) are doing the best that they can. When you look at the game getting physical, and all of the sudden, you see Elisabeth Dissen go 7-of-10. That is something that we really set up early, to be able to take the ball inside and score some easy baskets. Then we get our transition game going, and all of the sudden we step up and start knocking down 3s. The stretch where we went back-to-back-to-back from the 3-point line, that was a big blow that we were able to deliver at that time.”

Leading 51-30, the Cowgirls got 3-pointers from freshman Kristen Scheffler, senior Megan McGuffey and freshman Emma Langford and never looked back.

Langford, who had another outstanding game for the Cowgirls with 21 points, was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, as was Vanderjagt. Scheffler was 3-of-7. Richardson, McGuffey, freshman Ashley Sickles and Jade Kennedy also connected from downtown.

“When I take a look at that, that puts a great deal of pressure on teams defensively, knowing that we have so many weapons to go to,” Legerski said. “Having Ashley Sickles and Kristen Scheffler off the bench, to be able to do that, helps. I thought Randi Richardson really played well with seven assists and one turnover. She really distributed.”

Legerski said it is important for the Cowgirls to get the ball inside, as he said they won’t be able to shoot like that every night.

“We open in the road next week -- different environments, different gyms. We’re not going to have 3,000 fans cheering for us," he said. “Those things are going to be more difficult for this group and sometimes your outside shooting is the first ting to go.”

After Langford’s 21 points and 14 from Dissen, Vanderjagt and Scheffler both added nine points for Wyoming, which opens the regular season next Friday at Denver, Wyoming was 21-of-64 from the field and 13-of-24 from 3-point land. The Cowgirls did struggle from the free-throw line, hitting just 4-of-12.

Megan Sinclair led Metro State with 12 points, followed by Sharaya Selsor with 11 and Chelsea Williamson with 10. Metro State was just 20-of-60 from the field and 4-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc.

After Friday’s game at Denver, the Cowgirls will travel to Missoula, Mont., to face Montana on Nov. 15.
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COWGIRLS 79, ROADRUNNERS 49
METRO STATE: Megan Sinclar 5-11 2-2 12, Sharaya Selsor 5-14 0-0 11, Chelsea LeFebre 1-7 0-0 2, Leandra Sands 3-8 0-0 7, Alyssa Benson 1-1 0-0 2, Chelsea Williams 3-4 2-2 10, Erin D. 0-1 0-0 0, Jasmine Cervantes 0-4 0-0 0, Rae Bean 2-7 0-0 4, Kiley Gill 0-3 1-2 1. Totals: 20-60 5-6 49.
WYOMING: Rebecca Vanderjagt 3-4 0-0 0, Emma Langford 9-12 0-2 21, Elisabeth Dissen 7-10 0-1 14, Randi Richardson 1-3 0-0 3, Megan McGuffey 2-4 1-2 6, Gemma Koehler 0-4 0-0 0, Kristen Scheffler 3-8 0-0 9, Ashley Sickles 1-8 1-2 4, Jade Kennedy 2-2 1-2 6, Leah Fitzgerald 0-0 1-3 1, Brenna Freeze 0-1 0-0 0, Hillary Carlson 2-4 0-0 4, Mallory Kline 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 31-64 4-12 79.
Metro State 21 28 -- 49
Wyoming 40 39-- 79
3 pt. field goals: Metro -- 4-19 (Sinclair 0-2, Selsor 1-6, Sands 1-3, Williamson 2-3, Erin D 0-1, Cervantes 0-1, Gill 0-3), UW -- 13-24 (Vanderjagt 3-3, Langford 3-3, Richardson 1-2, McGuffey 1-1, Koehler 0-1, Scheffler 3-7, Sicklers 1-5, Kennedy 1-1, Freeze 0-1). Rebounding: Metro -- 36 (Sinclair 8, Sinclair 4, Selsor 3), UW -- 41 (Vanderjagt 7, Carlson 5, McGuffey 5), Assists: Metro 11 (Sinclair 4, Selsor 3), UW -- 25 (Richardson 7, Langford 5, Scheffler 3, Sickles 3). Turnovers: Metro -- 18 (Sands 5, Selsor 4), UW -- 12 (Vanderjagt 3, Langford 2, Sickles 2), Blocks: Metro -- 1 (Cervantes 1), UW 5 (Carlson 2, Dissen, Sickles, McGuffey 1 each), Steals: Metro -- 3 (Cervantes 2, Sands 1), UW -- 12 (Carlson 3, Langford 2, Kennedy 2). A -- 3,121.