Cowgirls looking for consistency against Aztecs

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Consistency and a young team often go hand-in-hand and that is certainly the case for the Wyoming Cowgirls this season.

Wyoming has also struggled at times at home. The Cowgirls will look to take a bite out of that discrepancy when they host San Diego State Sunday, with a 2 p.m. tip-off at the Arena-Auditorium.

Although the Cowgirls won their last home game over New Mexico, they are just 5-6 at home this season, after losing just five times in the A-A in the previous three years.

With just three home games remaining this season, Wyoming coach Joe Legerski would like to see his team play with a little more consistency. Unfortunately for the Cowgirls, they have to go up against a very good San Diego State team (8-2 in MWC, 17-5 overall).

“We’ve had a tough time at home this year and a great deal of that is due to the youth of this team, as well as we haven’t had players step up when we needed them to step up,” Legerski said. “It will be an interesting game for us on Sunday and a very difficult opponent to try to stat working towards getting our home court advantage back.”

Even with that, the Cowgirls (11-11, 3-6) showed some positive signs with the win over the Lobos and a good performance in the loss to Utah last Sunday in Salt Lake City.

“One of the things that we are doing, is we are moving in the direction of becoming a better team,” Legerski said. “One of the concerns that I have is we’re having players step up and playing extremely well one night and not another night. The example is how Hillary (Carlson) started out in conference play. Now teams are starting to double her. What we are lacking is a little consistency.

“When you take a look at it and Hillary and Kristen Scheffler are leading the team in scoring and both of them have difficult nights against Utah and Megan (McGuffey) and Emma (Langford) really stepped forward. We need everybody, each and every night, to step up for us to have a chance to win.”

The Aztecs have been nothing but consistent this season, dating back to their strong run in last year’s MWC tournament. San Diego State beat Wyoming 49-42 earlier in the season in San Diego.

“They are a great defensive team and they make it very difficult to get open shots,” Legerski said. “What they really excel at is turning defense into offense, so you have to limit the amount of turnovers. We have to do a better job on the glass -- we gave up way too many offensive rebounds. But that is a very difficult task because they have great size. You can see why they are playing so well and that is why they are one of the top teams in our league.”
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Wyoming Cowgirls (11-11 overall, 3-6 in the MWC)
Probable Starters Pos. Ht. Yr. Exp. Hometown 2008-09 Stats
3 Randi Richardson G 5-7 RSo. TR Arlington, Wash. 2.9 ppg, 2.5 aspg
10 Rebecca Vanderjagt F 6-3 Sr. 3L Townsville, Australia 2.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.0 bpg
12 Kristen Scheffl er G 5-11 Fr. HS Lovell, Wyo. 10.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.6 aspg
24 Megan McGuffey G 5-11 Sr. 3L Cheyenne, Wyo. 10.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.6 aspg
41 Hillary Carlson F 6-3 So. 1L Cheyenne, Wyo. 10.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 0.7 bpg
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 2.3 ppg, 1.1 rpg
14 Jade Kennedy F 6-1 So. 1L Cairns, Australia 4.0 ppg, 5.1 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 10.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.7 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. 7.2 ppg, 4.4 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, Katie Kern (New Mexico, ‘99), Third Year
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San Diego State (17-5 overall, 8-2 in the MWC)
Probable Starters Pos. Ht. Yr. Exp. Hometown 2008-09 Stats
2 Coco Davis G 5-9 So. 1L Sacramento, Calif. 4.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg
3 Quenese Davis G 5-9 Jr. 2L Sacramento, Calif. 11.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg
5 Jené Morris G 5-9 Jr. 1L San Francisco, Calif. 13.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg
24 Jennifer Layton-Bailes F 6-1 Sr. 1L Sacramento, Calif. 8.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg
32 Paris Johnson C 6-4 So. 1L San Diego, Calif. 15.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg
Off The Bench
4 Kim Spinardi G 5-8 Jr. 2L Merced, Calif. 1.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg
15 Lindsay Leo F 6-2 Fr. HS San Jose, Calif. 1.6 ppg, 1.1 rpg
20 Adrienne Vita F 6-0 Fr. HS Marin County, Calif. Has played in fi ve games
21 Jerica Williams G 5-8 So. RS San Diego, Calif. 5.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg
22 Gabrielle Clark F 6-1 Fr. HS Los Angeles, Calif. 1.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg
23 LaSandra Dixon G 5-7 Sr. 3L Azusa, Calif. 2.2 ppg, 1.0 rpg
40 Candace Chambers F 6-1 Fr. HS Seattle, Wash. 1.3 ppg,1.3 rpg
55 Kalena Tutt C 6-2 Fr. HS Long Beach, Calif. 1.3 ppg, 1.2 rpg
Head Coach: Beth Burns (Ohio Wesleyan, '79), 12th Year
Assistant Coaches: Jualeah Woods (USC, '94), Shanele Stires (Kansas State, '95)
Fred Chmiel
Dir. of Operations: Tammy Stephens (CS Fullerton, '81)