Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming guard Randi Richardson is bumped by Adams State's Jocelyn Padilla Tuesday night.
Wyoming-Adams State boxscore
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
After two tough outings, the Wyoming Cowgirls just wanted a win.
While it was still a struggle at times offensively, Wyoming broke a two-game slide with a 58-48 win over pesky Division II Adams State Tuesday night at the Arena-Auditorium.
Not only had the young Cowgirls lost two straight, but they were pasted in their last outing before Christmas, 67-38 against Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash. Two days earlier, Wyoming lost by 15 at home against Saint Louis.
The holiday season just got a little brighter going into a new year, Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said. Tuesday’s win came at the perfect time.
“We had our confidence shaken pretty good over the last couple of weeks,” Legerski said. “We did a little self evaluating over the holidays and talked about what we needed to try to do as a team. I thought one of the things is we asked this team to do was step up as a group and make more plays, take more shots."
It was more of a relief for senior Megan McGuffey.
“It feels good to get a win after those two losses," McGuffey said. “We’re still learning every game and we’re getting better. It just feels good to get a win.”
Kristen Scheffler was the lone Cowgirl to score in double figures with 10. Four other Cowgirls were close, as sophomore Jade Kennedy and freshman Emma Langford added nine each and seniors Megan McGuffey and Elisabeth Dissen both scored eight points. Kennedy also had 10 rebounds and Dissen added nine.
“We had to take all of the pressure off of Emma and Megan, to try to go out there and get us 20 to 25 points every night,” Legerski said. “I’m pleased with that, when you take a look at the number of people -- nine, eight, eight, 10, nine (points). We have five people within a basket of double digits. I think that is important for this group."
Wyoming (7-5) held Division II Adam State scoreless for nearly seven minutes midway through the second half and pulled away in the final minutes. Misti Solomon led Adams State (5-7) with 12 points, followed by Vera Jo Bustos with 11.
The Cowgirls continued to struggle offensively, shooting just 35 from the field, hitting just 6 of 24 3-pointers. Wyoming was 16-of-23 from the free-throw line, to just 5-of-6 for Adams State, which shot just 37 percent from the field and hit just 1 of 9 3-pointers.
“We lost Scheffler too many times tonight,“ Adams State coach Kelly Kruger said. “She hit some big 3s in the first half and another big 3 in the second half."
Wyoming led 28-23 at halftime and only 37-35 five minutes into the second half before scoring eight unanswered points. The Cowgirls led by as much as 12 and Adams State never got any closer than nine.
“All-in-all, I’m very excited with what this group did,” Legerski said. “It’s been a while since we had a victory. I think at times you could see that with our confidence.”
The Cowgirls will close the non-conference portion of their schedule Saturday when they host San Francisco at 2 p.m.
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