Richard Anderson photo
The Cowgirls celebrate earlier in the season.
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
The Wyoming Cowgirls learned that no lead was safe last week in picking up their first Mountain West Conference victory of the season Saturday against Colorado State.
The Cowgirls led by as much as 21 points before holding on for a three-point win. Wyoming returns to the road Wednesday night (7 p.m.) against the ultimate never-say-die program with Air Force at the Academy.
The young Wyoming team (1-4, 9-9) has had to adjust this season to life without four starters from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, and their leading returning scorer in junior Aubrey Vandiver, who is out for the season with mononucleosis.
At times the Cowgirls as looked impressive, at other times they’ve looked like a team made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores. The end result was three opening losses in Mountain West Conference play, including two close losses to San Diego State and TCU.
On Saturday, that all changed with the win over the Rams.
“I think what was important was to experience a win. That was something that had eluded this group in conference play" Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said. “There are so many times you can keep asking them to step up to the plate and it is going to happen for you. This reinforced all of the work that they are putting in, how we are moving in the right direction with such a young group. The biggest thing was that we found a way to win. That is important for a young team.”
Now, Legerski said, they have to build upon that success with Air Force.
“Once again, we’re out on the road, playing in a different environment,” Legerski said. “The players from the Academy will compete for 40 minutes, so we have to go out and give it our best again.”
The Cowgirls might have played as well as they have all season for much of the first half. The second half … well, it was just a matter of hanging on as Wyoming struggled to put CSU away, hitting on just 12 of 24 free throws in the final 20 minutes.
At CSU, we played well for the first 10-15 minutes, then we kind of hung on for the second half,“ Legerski said. “We look forward to maybe extend that a as long as we can, for 30-40 minutes.”
The Falcons, 0-5 in the MWC and 4-14 on the season, are led by sophomore guard Raimee Beck at 12.9 points a game and senior guard Brooke Cultra at 12.3 points a game. Senior center Kim Kreke is scoring 9.4 points and grabbing 9.9 rebounds a contest.
“They’ll create some mis-match problems, they don’t have quite the size that we have, yet we will have to figure out how to be able to attack against their match-up zone and we’re going to have to be able to shoot the basketball well again,” Legerski said.
In each of the Cowgirls last three games, the score has basically been tied around the two-minute mark. At CSU, they found a way to win that time of game. It was a good learning experience, Legerski said.
“I just believe that once you start experiencing some success in closing out games, it leads to more opportunities to be able to do that,” he said.
Wyoming returns home Saturday to host BYU.
---
Wyoming Cowgirls (9-9 overall, 1-4 in the MWC)
Probable Starters Pos. Ht. Yr. Exp. Hometown 2008-09 Stats
3 Randi Richardson G 5-7 RSo. TR Arlington, Wash. 2.8 ppg, 2.7 aspg
10 Rebecca Vanderjagt F 6-3 Sr. 3L Townsville, Australia 2.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.2 aspg
12 Kristen Scheffl er G 5-11 Fr. HS Lovell, Wyo. 10.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.6 aspg
24 Megan McGuffey G 5-11 Sr. 3L Cheyenne, Wyo. 11.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.8 aspg
41 Hillary Carlson F 6-3 So. 1L Cheyenne, Wyo. 10.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg
Off The Bench
4 Gemma Koehler F 6-1 Jr. 1L Geelong, Australia Has played in one game
13 Ashley Sickles F 6-1 Fr. HS Cresco, Iowa 2.6 ppg, 1.2 rpg
14 Jade Kennedy F 6-1 So. 1L Cairns, Australia 4.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg
15 Leah Fitzgerald C 6-2 Fr. HS Colorado Springs, Colo. Has played in three games
20 Aubrey Vandiver G 5-11 Jr. 2L Laramie, Wyo. Has not played this season
21 Emma Langford F 6-2 Fr. HS Arthurton, Australia 10.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.9 aspg
22 Brenna Freeze G 5-11 Fr. HS Albuquerque, N.M. 1.7 ppg, 1.0 rpg
33 Elisabeth Dissen C 6-1 Sr. 3L Hillsboro, Ore. 7.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg
45 Mallory Cline C 6-4 Jr. 2L McClave, Colo. Has played in two games
Head Coach: Joe Legerski (Wyoming, ‘79), Sixth Year
Associate Head Coach: Gerald Mattinson (Weber State, '81), Sixth Year
Assistant Coaches: Kristin Becker (Vanderbilt, ‘90), Third Year and Katie Kern (New Mexico, ‘99), Third Year
---
Air Force Falcons (4-14 overall, 0-5 in the MWC)
Probable Starters Pos. Ht. Yr. Exp. Hometown 2008-09 Stats
4 Anna Gault G 5-5 Fr. HS Aurora, Ill. 2.2 ppg, 1.4 rpg
22 Raimee Beck G 5-8 So. 1V Blackfoot, Idaho 12.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg
34 Brooke Cultra G 5-11 Sr. 3V Onarga, Ill. 12.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg
43 Kim Kreke C 6-4 Sr. 3V Salem, Ill. 9.3 ppg, 9.9 rpg
54 Liz Dunsworth C 6-2 So. 1V Rock Island, Ill. 3.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg
Off The Bench
10 Stevie Puentes G 5-7 So. 1V Rio Rancho, N.M. 3.2 ppg, 0.9 rpg
11 Jennifer Bandi F 6-2 So. 1V Winchester, Ma. 1.0 ppg, 0.5 rpg
20 Ariane Brown G 5-8 Fr. HS Colorado Springs, Colo. Has not played this season
30 Jamela Satterfi eld G 5-9 Fr. HS Sacramento, Calif. 1.2 ppg, 1.3 rpg
31 Kira Gonzalez G 5-8 Fr. HS Olathe, Kan. Has not played this season
33 Kathleen Schjodt F 6-0 Jr. 2V Hot Springs, S.D. 5.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg
35 Dana Loveless F 6-0 Sr. 3V St. Louis, Mo. Has played in one game
40 Amber Wilmore F 6-1 Fr. HS Colorado Springs, Colo. 0.5 ppg, 0.4 rpg
44 Candice Chase F 5-11 So. 1V Lakewood, Colo. Has not played this season
Head Coach: Ardie McInelly (Boise State, '82), Eighth Year
Associate Head Coach: Lisa Robinson (Illinois, 83)
Assistant Coaches: Holly Togiai (Idaho State, '99), Kirk Crawford (Western State, '78),
Cassie Bro (Idaho State, '06), 1st Lt. Jennifer Roesch (USAFA, '05)
No comments:
Post a Comment