Cowgirls struggle in loss to Billikens

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming's Megan McGuffey goes up for a jumper Saturday aginst Saint Louis.

Wyoming-Saint Louis box score

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Maybe the Cowgirls had too much time on their hands this week after all.

Whatever the reason, Wyoming came out sluggish and could never get over the hump, falling to Saint Louis 74-59 on Saturday in the Arena-Auditorium.

Wyoming coach Joe Legerski was hoping that the week without classes would put the Cowgirls at ease. It could have affected them in reverse, as cold shooting and a step behind on defense was about all they were able to show for their efforts.

Legerski said that especially for the young players, routine is important to them.

“They are used to being able to go to class, then they come in, go to practice, do some film work, use the weight room,” Legerski said. “One of the challenges is how they handle their free time. I would like to think that they are free of worries about the academic side of things, yet all of the sudden now they have so much free time that they are trying to fill. Hopefully, going on the road puts us back in a routine.”

The Cowgirls, 6-4, will face Gonzaga Monday night in Spokane, Wash., at 7 p.m.

On Saturday, the Billikens (4-7) led 40-26 at halftime and by as much as 18 early in the second half, before the Cowgirls (6-4) made a push to make it a game in the final minutes.Wyoming chipped away at the Saint Louis lead and cut it to eight with 6:41 to play. But the Cowgirls missed their final six free throws and a couple of layups and never challenged again.

Wyoming shot just 30 percent from the field in the first half and 37 percent in the game, connecting on just 6 of 24 3-pointers. The Cowgirls were led by senior Elisabeth Dissen’s 15 points, followed by senior Megan McGuffey and freshman Kristen Scheffler with 14 points each.

Leading scorer Emma Langford (15.8 ppg.) was just 3 of 17 from the field, scoring six points.

“We just couldn’t get our shots to go down,” McGuffey said. “We were definitely just missing something tonight."

Just what was missing for the Cowgirls?

“I really do not know, truthfully," McGuffey added. “I think we just dug ourselves in too big of a hole in the first half. We came out on our heels and they weren’t afraid to attack us. We just couldn’t get ourselves out of it."

Legerski said that going into the game, one of the things that worried him was the speed of the Billikens. He was right.

“Saint Louis’s quickness was something that we were going to have to handle,” he said. “I didn’t think we did a great job of that.”

Saint Louis also took advantage on the free-throw line, hitting 23-of-27, to just 7-of-14 for Wyoming. The Cowgirls were also 0-for-6 in the second half.

Legerski said that one of the things he looks at is the number of free throws shot and the amount of fouls that were with those free throws. The foul count was pretty even (17-15 Saint Louis), but the free throws were not.

“That tells me we weren’t moving our feet; we weren’t getting into defensive positions and we were fouling shooters most of the evening, putting them to the line," he said. "Also, they were tremendous from the free-throw line and we struggled throughout the evening, specifically in the second half.

"I think it is the first game that I have been involved in where you did not make a free throw in a half. It magnifies it because we were missing front ends of one-on-ones. When you get the lead cut down to eight, now those free throws really are big because you could have gotten it down a little lower than that.”

Theresa Lisch scored 22 points and Amanda Kemezys added 20 as Saint Louis, which snapped a three-game slide with the win. Heather King finished with 12 points and Katie Paganelli added 11. The Billikens closed by scoring 10 of the last 13 points.

“This was a huge win for our program and for our team,” Saint Louis coach Shimmy Gray-Miller said. “Coming into the game, I felt like we had to be one of the best three-win teams in the nation. To come to Wyoming in an environment like this, with the weather conditions and our team three days away from going home for Christmas, to play this well was great for our team.”