Cowgirls start, finish storng to beat Lobos

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Joe Legerski said going into Wednesday’s game against New Mexico that they talked about getting off to a good start, pushing the pace and making sure that junior Hillary Carlson takes the shots that are open and not try to create shots.

Check, check and check.

Carlson scored 23 points as Wyoming ran past New Mexico 78-55 on Wednesday.

“Hillary got us off to a great start,” Legerski said. “The first half Emma (Langford), Aubrey (Vandiver) and Hillary got 30 points for us and we need people to step up and score, we can’t just rely on those three. Jade Kennedy did that in the second half ; she made some great shots for us. Randi Richardson (10 assists) did a great job of distributing the ball and keeping our energy level high, which is what she does best."

The Cowgirls (7-5 MWC, 16-8) led the entire game but used strong outside shooting in the second half to pull away.

Wyoming scored the game's first seven points and led by as much as 11 before taking a 36-30 lead at halftime.

Carlson came out with five points to open the second half and the Cowgirls used two 3-pointers by Kennedy to open up a 15-point lead early in the second half. Kennedy, who finished with 14 points, hit two more 3-pointers, followed by another three by Kristen Scheffler, to open up a 26-point lead late in the game.

As is always the case, Legerski said they just work on winning four-minute segments, something they did in the second half.

“There are three words written on the board: 20 minutes, intensity and four minutes,” Legerski said. “sometimes 20 minutes is too much to comprehend … are you winning or are you losing?Let’s take it four minutes at a time. I thought we did a very good job of managing the four minutes.”

Georonika Jackson led the Lobos (6-6, 14-10) with 14 points, followed by Sara Halasz with 10.

“I think we go into halftime pretty confident knowing that the other team will bring the intensity, bring the energy, so we need to match it,” Carlson said.

Carlson, a 6-foot-3 forward, hit 7 of 14 field goal attempts, including 3 of 5 3-pointers. She also grabbed seven rebounds, blocked four shots and had three assists.

“I just get some opportunities and I take advantage of them,“ Carlson said. “I’m sure if other players on our team got the same opportunities they would do the same thing.”

Vandiver scored 15 points for Wyoming, with Langford adding 13. Wyoming shot 51 percent from the field (28 of 55 ) and hit 11 of 19 3-pointers, including 6 of 8 in the second half. The Cowgirls also had 21 assists and just five turnovers in the game.

Playing without an injured Amy Beggin (13.5 points a game), the team's leading scorer, the Lobos struggled offensively. Although New Mexico had 17 more field goal attempts than Wyoming, the Lobos shot just 28 percent from the field (20-of-72) and hit just 8 of 28 3-pointers.

The Cowgirls will hit the road for a big matchup at BYU Saturday.