Cowgirls light it up from the outside

John McKnight photo/Wyoming's Randi Richardson drives past a BYU player on Tuesday.

UW-BYU game statistics

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

When the Cowgirls shoot the basketball to their ability, the results speak for themselves.

That wasn’t always the case in the first half. The second half was a different story.

Wyoming shot 55 percent from the field and hit seven 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes and rolled past Brigham Young 69-54 Tuesday night in the Arena-Auditorium.
With Wyoming, sometimes it is not always about making shots, but making big shots from across the board. Six Cowgirls hit 3-pointers and the team finished 12 of 27 from beyond the arc.

One by one late in the game, each big shot was a dagger in the Cougars back.

“Tonight, it was uncharacteristic for us for us to shoot 31 percent in the first half," Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said. “One thing I think was happening that we’ve made such a point about our rebounding, which in turn made our shooting suffer a little bit. We talked at half time about whoever was shooting the basketball that was their job. To come out and shoot 55 percent in the second half, we did a good job.”

Maybe the two biggest shots of the game came when the score was tied at 40-each. Randi Richardson stepped up and hit a 3-pointer -- her second of the second half -- and Aubrey Vandiver followed with a trey to put the Cowgirls up 46-40.

They never tailed again.

“That gave us some momentum to close out the game,” Legerski said.

Vandiver led the way with three 3-pointers, with Kennedy, Richardson, Langford and Kristen Scheffler adding two each. Carlson was 1-of-2, with her miss rolling around the rim several times before shooting out.

Hitting their 3-pointers helps the Cowgirls with their inside-outside game.

“It definitely helped out,” Langford said. “We’d get the ball inside to Hillary, then we would kick I it out to hit a three. It really completes our game when we get other options. We hit some big threes tonight.”

Even seldom used freshman post Chaundra Sewell attempted a 3-pointer, although she was not successful.

“We work a lot on our threes in practice,” Langford said. “It pays off. We hit our shots tonight, so that was good.”

Of the Cowgirls who see playing time, Legerski said they all have the ability to shoot the 3-pointer.

"What we talk about is some players, maybe the light is a little greener for them than for other players," Legerski said. "Kristen Scheffler can shoot anywhere on the floor that she wants to shoot from. What we talk about is you need to shoot the ball when you are open. If you're not open, you give the ball up and you go screen. to get that kind of even performance from the 3-point line, that makes it very difficult to guard players. We need to continue to shoot the ball well from three."

The Cowgirls had a handful of shots go in as the shot-clock was winding down, including a few big 3-pointers. Each time that happens, it can somewhat demoralize the defense.

“It’s hard playing defense when you play hard, fighting through screens and they get a three,‘ Langford said. “I think we did a good job of executing and shooting well at the end, they went down.”

As has been the case this season, Legerski said that the biggest stat that he looks at is having 17 assists on 21 field goals.

“This team does a great job of sharing the basketball,” he said. “They worry about Wyoming winning rather than individual totals.”

Although the Cowgirls took 27 3-pointers, Legerski said they were aggressive taking the ball to the basket. It resulted in them making 15 of 23 free throws.

“When the shot clock was winding down, we were going hard to the basket and getting fouls to be able to get to the free-throw line,” he said. “It was good to see people stepping up at the end.”