Wyoming sophomore Hillary Carlson, shown earlier this season, hit a big three-point play with 6.4 seconds left to lift the Cowgirls to an improbable 78-75 win over Weber State Thursday night.
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
Wyoming Sports.org
The Wyoming Cowgirls had nothing to lose in the second half Thursday night against Weber State.
Wyoming already trailed by 23 points at halftime and came out with a little different mindset and it paid off. The Cowgirls rallied in the final 20 minutes for an improbable 78-75 win over the Wildcats at the Dees Events Center in Ogden, Utah.
Despite the huge deficit, there was no panic in the Wyoming locker room at halftime.
“The biggest thing was to just stay calm with this group,” Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said on his postgame show on the Cowboy Sports Network. “When we went in at halftime, I pulled up a chair and sat down. We talked about Weber State playing with a great deal of energy and they basically made everything they shot. It almost put us back on our heels."
The Wildcats (3-3), who defeated Washington earlier in the season at home, came out on fire, hitting 15-of-20 from the field, including five 3-points, for a 47-24 halftime lead.
But Wyoming senior Megan McGuffey came out and opened with a 3-pointer to give the Cowgirls some life. UW would eventually go on an 18-1 run to pull back within two with about six minutes left.
After several lead changes, the Cowgirls (4-3) made the big plays at the end to win the game.
Trailing 75-73, sophomore Hillary Carlson grabbed a miss by freshman Emma Langford and put the ball in the basket as she was fouled with 6.4 seconds left. Carlson converted the three-point play for a one-point lead.
Weber State tried a full-court, out-of-bounds pass but threw the ball away giving the Cowgirls the ball back under their own basket. Langford was fouled and she connected on both of her free throws with 5.0 seconds left. Weber State then fumbled the ball into Langford’s hands and never got a shot off to end the game.
Legerski said they basically changed everything in the second half.
“We had a game plan where we were only going to switch some on ball screens. I thought we really had some problems with that …. maybe a little too much thinking," he said. “We just came out and said, switch everything they do and make plays, and more importantly when we rotate, somebody has to rebound the backside defensively.”
Langford led the Cowgirls with 20 points, followed by Carlson with 15 points and McGuffey and senior Elisabeth Dissen with 13 and 12 respectively. Scheffler and Jade Kennedy had nine points each, which Kennedy leading the way with nine rebounds.
“We got a big lift out of Jade Kennedy and Hillary Carlson off of the bench,” Legerski said. “None so more than what Jade was able to do rebounding. Nine rebounds, nine points. Hillary had 15 and 6 and none bigger than when we found Hillary at the end and she made the conversion of the three-point play to put us up. Then it was just about defense at the end. Emma steps up at the line and makes two free throws. The good part was we were able to defend and not even give up a shot. That was big in this game.”
The Cowgirls shot 54 percent in the second half.
“With this group, I have been trying to find their role,” Legerski said. “Megan, Elisabeth and Rebecca (Vanderjagt), as seniors, have always been in role positions. Now all of the sudden they are asked to step up in a primary leadership role. I think by changing that, sometimes there is more pressure on people. It looked that way at the beginning. I thought we started to relax in the second half. We had nothing to lose, we’re down 23 points. It’s easy to shoot because, now for all intense purposes, the game may have been over. We started making some shots and started to get on the roll.”
Wyoming will return to action Saturday at 2 p.m. against Idaho State at Pocatello.
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