Cowgirls beat Cougars in overtime

BYU photo
Wyoming's Rebecca Vanderjagt and Kristen Scheffler defend BYU's Cassie King on Wednesday in Provo.

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By Wyoming Sports.org

PROVO, Utah -- Losing a 12-point halftime lead on the road meant one thing earlier this season for the Wyoming Cowgirls: A loss.

On Wednesday, the progress the young Cowgirl team has made in the last month was evident once again, as the Cowgirls regained their momentum to edge BYU 57-55 in overtime at the Marriott Center.

Not only was it a big win for the Cowgirls, it broke a tie for fifth place with the Cougars in the Mountain West Conference standings. Wyoming moved to 8-7 in league play and 16-12 overall, while BYU fell to 7-8, 17-10.

“This is a big win for our program,” Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said. “With eight freshmen and sophomores on the roster, and this is a tremendous place to play, it is a big win.”

Wyoming was led by freshman Emma Langford, who recorded 15 points and had five rebounds off the bench. She was followed by sophomore Hillary Carlson with 12 points and three blocked shots. Senior Megan McGuffey had a career-high 17 boards in her effort.

“Emma Langford was great off the bench and really created some things for us with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists,” Legerski said. “Megan McGuffey, with her 17 rebounds, was just a great performance on the glass.”

BYU was led by Cassie King with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Shawnee Slade added 16 points in her 33 minutes.

“We had many opportunities to win the game,” said BYU coach Jeff Judkins. “Coming out of the second half, the athletes played harder and gave it a lot better effort. We were a lot more aggressive and did a better job of attacking their zone but we were just unable to win the game.”

The Cowgirls got off to a slow start, trailing 9-2, but used a 12-0 run to seemingly take control in the first half. Wyoming led by as much as 14 before taking a 30-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Playing on its Senior Night, the Cougars had plenty of fight in them in the next 20 minutes. BYU chipped away and regained the lead at 46-45 and the two teams traded leads down the stretch.

Langford hit two free throws to give Wyoming a three-point lead late, but a three-point play by King tied it up at 53 with 34.6 seconds on the clock. The Cougars had a couple of opportunities to win the game, but it would head to overtime.

Langford and King answered baskets to begin overtime, before both teams continued to struggle offensively. Free throws by Langford and sophomore Jade Kennedy proved to be the difference.

“I thought at the end, BYU made more plays to get the game to overtime, and we are fortunate that one more shot fell for us in the end,” Legerski said.

Neither team shot the ball well, as the Cowgirls hit 21-of-54 (.389) from the field and 11-of-16 (.688) from the free-throw line, while out-rebounding the Cougars 44-42.

The Cougars were 24-of-71 (.338) from the field and 3-of-20 (.150) from beyond the arc.

Wyoming will close out the regular season at New Mexico on Saturday, with tip-off set for 2 p.m.