Timely timeout gets Cowgirls going; Scheffler makes Falcons pay

Wyoming freshman Kristen Scheffler

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Less than two minutes into the second half, it was time for a little attitude adjustment for the Wyoming Cowgirls.

Wyoming overcame a scoring drought midway through the first half with a late rush for a comfortable 13-point halftime lead against Air Force on Saturday. But a last-second bucket by the Air Force to close the opening half and five straight points to begin the second half got Wyoming coach Joe Legerski’s attention.

The Cowgirls responded with a 13-1 run and never looked back in routing the Falcons 65-34.

“We talked about coming ready to go at the start; I knew that Air Force has no quit in them, they'll compete for 40 minutes,” Legerski said.

Legerski called a quick timeout and although it was a full timeout, he kept his team on the floor. The Cowgirls responded with a steal and 3-pointer by freshman Kristen Scheffler and the Wyoming defense held the Falcons to just one point over an eight-minute span.

“There was no need to sit down, nobody was tired yet,” Legerski said. “We discussed what we wanted to get done as a team and where we are at as a team, and they are not doing what we asked. When I got that message across, we went right back out and Kristen Scheffler hit a 3 and we made another play. That is what I was hoping to see at the start at the half. It took a timeout to get that done.”

Wyoming senior Megan McGuffey said the Cowgirls couldn’t afford to give up any more points in that run.

“He (Legerski) had to just get up in our faces and get us going again," McGuffey said. “Sometimes we unfortunately have those lapses right after halftime. After he did that, the team came out and Kristen hit a couple of big shots there.”

For Scheffler, it was just a matter of taking what the defense gives you. The Falcons gave her open 3-point looks and she made them pay.

“Teams can make mistakes and you get freed up, so it is really important to make those shots when you get a chance,” Scheffler said.

Scheffler hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points in her best scoring night as a Cowgirl. She also had 21 points against Gonzaga and 21 in the first game against Air Force.

Legerski said that shooters shoot and that is exactly what the Lovell freshman did. Scheffler bhit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points in the second half.

“During a timeout, I said to Kristen, 'The basket must look about as big as this arena right now,’” he said. “She walks out there and knocks down the next 3 and I turned to Gerald (Mattinson), and said, ‘It may be as big as this state.’ When shooters get on a roll, the basket looks big to them.”