Cowgirl basketball ready to go

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Cowgirls basketball coach Joe Legerski is having a hard time believing the season is just about ready to begin.

It’s not like he is a rookie, he is beginning his seventh year at the helm. But Monday night’s exhibition opener against Adams State (7 p.m., Arena-Auditorium), like any opener, always seems to have a way to sneak up on a coach, albeit not so much for the players.

Legerski said that after about two weeks of practice, the team has progressed fairly well.

“Some of the veterans, when you look at Hillary (Carlson), Emma (Langford) and Aubrey (Vandiver), they have really picked up the pace and demonstrated that they are going to be the leaders for this program, and for this team,” Legerski said. “So, we are excited to get out and have a contest.”

With the return of Vandiver, who sat out last season with mononucleosis, Legerski has a few more lineup options than in the past.

“Aubrey is going to allow us to play her at the one and at the three,” Legerski said. “Because of that, I think you’re going to see some different combinations on the floor. You’ll get a chance to see (freshman) Rebecca Campigli at the point guard position, (sophomore) Kristen Scheffler at the two guard and Aubrey at the three. That is something that will be different for our fans to see. (Junior) Randi Richardson will have the opportunity to play the one and two as well.

“The one thing that is nice is our bigs are interchangeable, they can play the four or the five. I have quit a few combinations that we will see what works best for Wyoming in early November.”

As could be expected, the exhibition season is all about Wyoming and not about the opponent. It is also all about getting some court time for all of the players, especially the younger athletes.
The Cowgirls will play their second exhibition game of the week on Friday when they host CSU-Pueblo.

“We try to separate them to simulate a little about how the season is played out,” Legerski said. “You usually play a couple of games a week, if not three. So, we wanted to make sure we had some practice time between exhibition games, and more importantly that they were not 10 days apart. You want to come right back and get another game in before you get started for real.”

Legerski said the players would rather play games than practice, but as coaches, they would rather practice every day. By doing that, he said they see the glaring weaknesses that they have and how much work they need.”

“There are times you really realize how young we are, even in some of the scrimmages we’ve had and the mistakes, based upon inexperience,” he said. “With five people on the floor, and going as deep as eight or nine players, we run into a bit of inexperience factor that shows its ugly head at the wrong times in scrimmages, and that’s something we need to correct.”

Legerski expects all but sophomore Leah Fitzgerald to play on Monday. Fitzgerald suffered a concussion early in the preseason and hasn’t practiced for a while.

“Leah is just getting back to practicing with us, but we will hold her out on Monday just from a safety standpoint and conditioning from being able to be on the floor and practice with the team,“ he said. “With it being early in the season, we don’t need to rush anything.”