Cowgirls fall short against Aztecs

The Wyoming Cowgirls ended their run at the MWC Championships with a 60-51 loss against the San Diego State Aztecs on Wednesday night in Las Vegas.

“I think what we witnessed tonight was a tremendous basketball game,” said head coach Joe Legerski. “Both teams came out and competed for 40 minutes, and every possession mattered. I thought at times San Diego State stepped up probably in the last three and a half minutes, made some big stops. We had our chances.

“With the experience of competing against San Diego State, I think it’s a basketball game we’ll learn from. It felt like playing the No. 1 seed out there. They create so many problems for you on the perimeter, plus on the inside. I’m just so proud of my team that, you know, we got off to a shaky start and then we came back and closed down the half down, too, still had a chance with a possession about three and a half minutes to go.”

Hillary Carlson led the Cow2girls (19-11) 25 points, along with a career high 18 rebounds. Her 18 rebounds equaled the MWC single game record set Tuesday by UNLV’s Jamie Smith. She was followed by Aubrey Vandiver with eight points and 11 rebounds, while Jade Kennedy added eight points as well.

“Hillary Carlson was just huge tonight. She literally kept us in the basketball game,“ Legerski said. “To have 17 at half, 25 total points, eight offensive rebounds, played 39 minutes. She really carried the load tonight and it was very important to keep her in the basketball game.

“I thought the heart showed tonight, Aubrey Vandiver had eight rebounds offensively. It gave us an opportunity when you’re shooting 2 percent, a credit to San Diego State’s defense, yet we just kept fighting and finding ways to just stay in the basketball game.”

The Aztecs had four of their five starters in double-figures led by Quenese Davis. She had a team high 16 points, plus six rebounds. Jessika Bradley recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 boards while Coco Davis and Paris Johnson recorded 14 and 13 points respectively. San Diego State shot 21-52 (.404) from the field and 16-19 (.842) from the free throw line.