Cowgirls win second straight

Wyoming-Air Force box score

By Wyoming Sports.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Freshman Kristen Scheffler scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Wyoming Cowgirls to a 52-41 win over Air force on Wednesday.

The win was the second straight in Mountain West Conference play for Wyoming, which moved to 2-4 and 10-9. The Falcons fell to 0-6, 4-15.

“We knew that it would be a difficult game tonight,” said head coach Joe Legerski. “Air Force plays hard for 40 minutes, and if you allow them to shoot the basketball, they will make shots."

The Cowgirls didn’t let the Falcons get too many open looks as Air Force hit on just 22 percent of its field goal attempts. While Wyoming didn’t shoot much better in the first half, the Cowgirls hit some big field goals in the second half to pull away.

“I thought tonight we did a great job defensively, holding them to shooting 22 percent and more importantly the job that Randi Richardson was able to do on their leading scorer,” Legerski said. “Offensively, Kristen Scheffler carried us in the first half especially with her 3-point shooting, plus with her shooting from the free-throw line. We also got some play off the bench tonight. Jade Kennedy did a good job and Hillary Carlson got going at the end.”

Scheffler hit 5 of 8 3-pointers and 6 of 7 free throws. Carlson added 13 points and six rebounds.

The Falcons were led by Brooke Cultra with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Kim Kreke added nine points and 10 boards.

In a back-and-forth first half, the Cowgirls used a 12-8 run for a 22-16 lead at halftime.

It was low scoring through the first four minutes of the second half as the two teams combined for just five points. With the score 24-19 in favor of the Cowgirls, they would score six of the next eight to get the lead to double-figures, 31-21. Leading 38-28, the Cowgirls never let Air Force get any closer than eight the rest of the way and were up by as much as 13.

The Cowgirls will return home Saturday when they host BYU at 2 p.m.