Cowgirls release basketball schedule

Five teams that competed in post-season play will be featured on the 2009-10 Wyoming Cowgirl basketball schedule, announced on Wednesday. Montana, San Diego State, TCU and Utah all competed in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, while New Mexico was a participant in the WNIT.

The Cowgirls open the regular season with three out of their first four games on the road. They will start it off against the Denver Pioneers on Nov. 13, before returning home for a one-game showdown with the Montana Lady Griz on Nov. 15. They head back out for a two-game road stretch against North Dakota, Nov. 18, and North Dakota State, Nov. 20.

UW will return home to the friendly confines of the Double A, as they host Black Hills State prior to Thanksgiving on Nov. 24, and then resume play against the Idaho State Bengals on Nov. 30. It will be back out on the road for a three-game stretch beginning with Idaho on Dec. 3, Washington State, Dec. 5, and Dakota State, Dec. 12, at the Wyoming Shootout in Casper. The Cowgirls will close out play before the Christmas break by hosting Weber State, on Dec. 18 and the Oregon Ducks on Dec. 20.

Wyoming will finish out the non-conference schedule with one final game on the road before the MWC begins with a match-up against the Boise State Broncos on Dec. 31 in Boise, Idaho.

“Once again, we have put together a tremendous schedule for our young team,” said head coach Joe Legerski. “Our non-conference schedule will be challenging with the first several games on the road, but it should help prepare us for the MWC. The conference will be as difficult as ever with our first five of eight games on the road. Overall, we are excited about our home schedule and the quality teams we are bringing into Laramie. It should be exciting for our fans.”

Mountain West Conference women’s games will be played primarily on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with one Sunday and three Tuesday games added in to the schedule. Wyoming will begin MWC play on the road Jan. 5 against the Colorado State Rams in a televised game on The Mtn. Sports Network. Their home opener will come on Jan. 13, as they welcome the TCU Horned Frogs. Other MWC televised games for the Cowgirls will be Jan. 19 against the BYU Cougars, UNLV on Feb. 2, and the Utah Utes on Feb. 28. The BYU and Utah games will be featured on The Mtn. in Laramie, while the UNLV game is set to be played in Las Vegas.
---
2009-10 Wyoming Cowgirl Basketball Schedule
November
Mon., Nov. 2 -- Adams State (Exh.), 7 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 6 -- CSU-Pueblo (Exh.), 7 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 13 -- at Denver, 5:30 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 15 -- Montana, 2 p.m.
Wed., Nov. 18 -- at North Dakota (Grand Forks, N.D.), 6 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 20 -- at North Dakota State (Fargo, N.D.), 5 p.m.
Tues., Nov. 24 -- Black Hills State, 7 p.m.
Mon., Nov. 30 -- Idaho State Laramie, 7 p.m.
December
Thurs., Dec. 3 -- at Idaho (Moscow, Idaho), tba

Sat., Dec. 5 -- at Washington State (Pullman, Wash. ), 3 p.m.
BlueCross/BlueShield of Wyoming Shootout (Casper)
Sat., Dec. 12 -- Dakota State#, 1 p.m.

Fri., Dec. 18 -- Weber State, 7 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 20 -- Oregon, 2 p.m.
Thurs., Dec. 31 -- at Boise State (Boise, Idaho), 2 p.m.
January
Tues., Jan. 5 -- at Colorado State* (Ft. Collins, Colo.), 6 p.m. (The Mtn.)
Sat., Jan. 9 -- at San Diego State* (San Diego, Calif.), TBA
Wed., Jan. 13 -- TCU* 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 16 -- at New Mexico* (Albuquerque, N.M.), 2 p.m.
Tues., Jan. 19 -- BYU*, 6 p.m. (The Mtn.)
Wed., Jan. 27 -- at Utah* (Salt Lake City, Utah), 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 30 -- Air Force*, 2 p.m.
February
Tues., Feb. 2 -- at UNLV (Las Vegas, Nev.), 9 p.m. (The Mtn.)
Sat., Feb. 6 -- Colorado State*, 2 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 10 -- San Diego State*, 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 13 -- at TCU* (Ft. Worth, Texas), tba.
Wed., Feb. 17 -- New Mexico*, 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 20 -- at BYU* (Provo, Utah), TBA
Sun., Feb. 28 -- Utah, 2 p.m. (The Mtn.)
March
Wed., March 3 -- at Air Force* (Colorado Springs, Colo.), tba
Sat., March 6 -- UNLV, 2:00 p.m.
MWC Tournament (Las Vegas, Nev.)
March 9-13 -- tba
---
*Mountain West Conference Games
#game played in Casper, Wyo. (Wyoming Shoot-Out)
All games and times are subject to change
All times listed are Mountain Time

Legerski signs another Australian

Courtesy photo
New Wyoming recruit Rebecca Campigli, playing with Victoria.

The Wyoming Cowgirls stayed on their Australian pipeline, signing Melbourne point guard Rebecca Campigli to a letter of intent for the fall of 2009.

“Rebecca Campigli is the first true point guard that we’ve had at Wyoming,” Cowgirls head coach Joe Legerski said. “She likes to distribute the basketball and push the ball in transition, while being an outside shooting threat. She completes this recruiting class as she joins Chaundra Sewell and Sara Wilson as future Cowgirls.”

Campigli, at 5-foot-10, is a two-time member of the U20 Victorian team that won an Australian National Gold and Silver medal and the U18 and U16 Victorian Metropolitan team. For two years, she was a development player for the Dandenong Rangers with the WNBL and a member of the Australian Schoolgirls team. During her time at Wesley College, she was selected Girls First Team (2006-08) and a two-time captain, while being named MVP for the McDonalds Cup Tournament (2007) and the Wesley Team (2007-08). Campigli was also a juniors player with the Nunawading Spectres and helped them to four gold medals and one bronze medal at the National Junior Classic.

She has been coached by Lori Chizik. Campigli is the daughter of Peter and Vicki Campigli. She has two siblings, Sarah and Todd.

Campigli is the third student-athlete to sign a letter of intent with the Cowgirls, as they inked two during the early signing period. The other signees include Sewell (6-1, forward, Broomfield, Colo.) and Wilson (5-9, guard, Grant, Neb.).

Rams surprise Cowgirls in tourney opener

Cowgirls-Rams stats

By Wyoming Sports.org

LAS VEGAS -- The third time was a charm for the Colorado State Rams on Tuesday in the first round of the Mountain West Conference women’s basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Once again, tournament play for the Wyoming Cowgirls was a major disappointment.

Colorado State jumped out to a 20-point first half lead and never really looked back, thumping the Cowgirls 64-56. It was the first win over Wyoming in three games and it also broke a nine-game skid to the Cowgirls dating back to the 2004-2005 season.

Wyoming, meanwhile, fell in the first round for the second straight year and is now 2-19 in combined play of the MWC and Western Athletic Conference tournaments.

“I think in general today, Colorado State came out with a great deal of energy early,“ Legerski said. “I thought they really attacked the basket. They were quicker in transition. We just had to respond from that.”

When the Cowgirls, 16-14, struggle, they usually do some offensively and fall behind early. That was the case against the Rams.

“It's very difficult to continually battle from behind,” Legerski said. “I thought that as far as Wyoming is concerned, we left too many plays out there on the floor today that in tournament play you need to make - none bigger than about 1 minute 40 to go. I believe we're down six and we don't come up with a rebound off a missed free throw, then we don't foul again and come up with the second one.

“Those are plays that you have to make to be in basketball games. But I thought the theme today was CSU's energy and how much they attacked the basket.”

For the Rams, 10-21 and the No. 8 seed, it was the second straight year that they struggled in the regular season, but opened the tourney with a bang. Last year, after a winless MWC regular season, Colorado State won its first two games, including a shocking win over No. 1 seed Utah.

CSU basically dominated all aspects of the game. Amaka Uzomah, Bonnie Barbee and Zoi Simmon all finished with 11 points for the Rams while Uzomah also led the way with nine rebounds. The Rams were 23-of-56 (.411) from the field, 14-of-21 (.667) from the free-throw line and out-rebounded the Cowgirls 39-29.

"I'm extremely proud of my team,” first-year CSU coach Kristen Holt said. “Going into this game, we talked a lot about dictating the tempo. I felt like the first two times we played Wyoming, they dictated the tempo of the game. Our tempo is to try to pick it up and run as much as we can. We pressed a little bit, obviously, today.

“So that's what we wanted to do. We felt that that would play to our advantage. I think it did. So I really liked the start that we had. My team was as focused as they've been in any game this year. It's a good time to be focused. We had good practices leading up to today's game. Zoi took care of the ball very well. I thought she did a great job in the press. Amaka was huge on the boards and made some shots that sometimes I don't let her shoot."

Wyoming senior Megan McGuffey said the Rams were the aggressor the entire game.

“It’s hard to play on your heels when they're playing on their toes the whole game,” McGuffey said. “Yeah, unfortunately, we couldn't come back.”

Three Cowgirls finished the game in double figures, led by sophomore Hillary Carlson, who had 17 points and four rebounds. Freshman Emma Langford followed with 16, while McGuffey added 13 in her final game as a Cowgirl. Freshman Kristen Scheffler had a team high six rebounds.

Wyoming shot 19-of-54 (.352) from the field, 1 of 14 3-pointers (.071) and 17-23 (.739) from the free-throw line.

“You take a look at the last two games, we're 1-of-29 from 3-point range,” Legerski said. “You're not going to win very many games, if any, shooting 1 of 29 from 3. You have to be able to use that. I think, you know, we get players in position to make plays. I came into this game knowing that Colorado State had more tournament experience than we did on the floor with their victories last season. We're out there with a couple of freshmen -- Emma and Kristen -- that I thought did a great job. This is Hillary's first time to step out on tournament play. Those are some challenges for those kids.”

Cowgirls open tourney with CSU

Richard Anderson photo
Hillary Carlson drives to the basket past a CSU player earlier in the season.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

For a team that has been on the road more times than not in the last few weeks, the new format of the Mountain West Conference women’s basketball tournament doesn’t do the Wyoming Cowgirls too many favors.

For Utah, San Diego State and TCU, that’s a different story.

The Cowgirls, 16-13, 8-8 in MWC and the fifth seed, will open the tournament on Tuesdays by facing rival Colorado State, 9-20, 4-12 and the eighth seed. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

To win the tournament, the Cowgirls will have to win four games in five days.
For Utah and San Diego State, which tied for first in the regular season, both teams don’t even play until Friday’s semifinals.

The new format has the top two teams receive byes until the semifinals, and the No. 3 seed, TCU, earning first-round bye. Wyoming, like CSU, New Mexico, BYU, Colorado State and UNLV, are in it for the long haul.

The Cowgirls are also coming off of two road games last week where they played at BYU, came back to Laramie, traveled to New Mexico, then came home again, before leaving Monday for Las Vegas.

“One of the biggest concerns that I have right now is how tired we may be,” Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said. “We’ve traveled five of the last seven days, and that is always a concern, whether we are going to have fresh legs.”

CSU, meanwhile, played its last two games at home.

Even with the odds stacked against them, Legerski said that the new format protects the teams that are the best teams in the league. It came about after last year’s top seed, Utah, was upset in the opening round and didn’t get a favorable draw for the NCAA Tournament.

“They (Utah, SDSU, TCU) have proven over time that they are the best teams,” Legerski said. “The rest of us have some challenges ahead of us, to be able to play for four days. But we had some challenges ahead of us as it was. CSU would have opened up with an 8-9 game, then faced No. 1. We would have faced No. 4. Those were tough challenges in the old format. The challenges have just changed. It will still be very difficult if you are in the bottom half of the league.”

When asked if his Cowgirls would have the legs to play four games in a week, Legerski said he was just worried about having enough legs to play on Tuesday.

“That will be something that we have to wait and see on,” Legerski said. “That is one of the biggest challenges for anybody who starts play on Tuesday.”

The Cowgirls will look for their third win over CSU this season, although both victories were far from easy. Wyoming beat the Rams 64-61 in Fort Collins and topped them again 71-62 in Laramie.

“I look at CSU as a team that ended up winning two games last year in the tournament, and they have a high percentage of those players back who experienced some success,“ Legerski said. “The two previous games were just games played throughout the league. We played well at times and CSU played well at times. I think what it is going to come down to is maybe a longer run together. When the new format, the first round games have really tightened up a bit where you have 5 vs. 8, 6 vs. 7, teams I always figured to be very comparable. It should be a close game.”

The Rams are led by Britney Minor, who is averaging 7.8 points along with 4.2 rebounds. Senior Kandy Beemer is adding 7.6 points, while Amaka Uzomah is leading the way with 6.6 rebounds per game.

Four Cowgirls are scoring in double figures this season, led by sophomore Hillary Carlson, who is averaging 11.6 points, while senior Megan McGuffey is adding 10.6 points. Freshmen Kristen Scheffler and Emma Langford follow closely with 10.4 and 10.3 points respectively.

Legerski said his biggest worry is just winning in the MWC Tournament, something the Cowgirls haven’t had much luck at. In his tenure, Wyoming is just 2-6 in the tourney, and 2-18 overall in the MWC and WAC tournaments combined.

“We have to show up and get a tournament victory. At this time of the year, either you win or you go home,” Legerski said.

Four Cowgirls honored by MWC

Wyoming sophomore Hillary Carlson was one of four Cowgirls to be honored Monday by the Mountain West Conference.

Carlson was named to the MWC second team to lead the way, with senior Megan McGuffey named to the third team, freshman Kristen Scheffler named to the honorable mention team and freshman Emma Langford was selected as the Sixth Player of the Year.

Carlson led the Cowgirls in scoring at 11.6 points a game and ranked fourth in the league in field goal percentage. In conference games, Carlson finished fourth in scoring (14.6 ppg), fifth in field goal percentage (78-of-159, .491) and ninth in rebounding.

McGuffey finished at 10.6 points a game and was eighth in the league in rebounding at 8.0 per game.

Scheffler and Langford finished at 10.4 and 10.3 points a game respectively. Scheffler was second in the league in 3-point field goals made at 2.38 per game.

Utah’s Morgan Warburton was selected as the Player of the Year, with Defensive Player of the Year honors going to San Diego State’s Jené Morris, while UNLV’s Jamie Smith was chosen as the Freshman of the Year. TK LaFleur earned Newcomer of the Year honors and San Diego State’s Beth Burns, who guided the Aztecs to their first MWC regular-season title, earned her first MWC Coach of the Year honor.

Warburton, a senior guard, helped the Utes to a 13-3 conference record and their seventh MWC regular-season title. She led the league in points (18.1 ppg), and was first in free-throw percentage (.890) and fifth in assists (3.56 apg) during the conference slate.

Five seniors, five juniors and five sophomores make up this year’s all-MWC team. Five all-conference picks were repeat selections from 2007-08.

Three different institutions were honored on this year’s first team. Joining Warburton on the all-MWC first-team were teammate Kalee Whipple of Utah and Helena Sverrisdottir of TCU.

Whipple made her third consecutive all-conference appearance, being named to the third team her freshman year and second team last season. San Diego State had two first-team honorees in Paris Johnson and Jené Morris. Warburton was named a first-team all-conference member for the third consecutive year, while the others are first-time selections to the first team.

New Mexico’s Amy Beggin is the only returning all-conference performer from 2007-08 on the second team. This year, six players were named to the second team, due to a tie for the fifth spot. Underclassmen Emily Carter of TCU and Carlson made the list, while TCU’s TK LaFleur earned second-team honors in her first year competing in the MWC. San Diego State’s Quenese Davis earned her second all-conference honors, after being named to the third team her freshman year, while Utah’s Katie King was also honored.

UNLV’s Shamela Hampton earned her third straight third-team honor. BYU’s Mindy Nielson, New Mexico’s Angela Hartill and McGuffey each made their first appearance on the all-conference list.
---
First Team All-Mountain West Conference
#**Morgan Warburton, Utah, Sr., 5-11, G
#**Kalee Whipple, Utah, Jr., 6-0, F
#Helena Sverrisdottir, TCU, So., 6-2, G
Paris Johnson, San Diego State, So., 6-4, C
*Jené Morris, San Diego State, Jr., 5-9, G
Second Team All-Mountain West Conference
*Amy Beggin, New Mexico, Jr., 5-6, G
*Quenese Davis, San Diego State, Jr., 5-9, G
TK LaFleur, TCU, Jr., 5-8, G
Hillary Carlson, Wyoming, So., 6-3, F
Emily Carter, TCU, So., 6-1, G
Katie King, Utah, Sr., 6-1, F
Third Team All-Mountain West Conference
**Shamela Hampton, UNLV, Sr., 6-3, C
Angela Hartill, New Mexico, Sr., 6-3, C
Mindy Nielson, BYU, So., 5-10, G
Megan McGuffey, Wyoming, Sr., 5-11, F
Honorable Mention All-Mountain West Conference
Jamie Smith, UNLV, Fr., 6-0, G/F
Raimee Beck, Air Force, Jr., 5-8, G
Cassie King, BYU, Sr., 6-3, C
Shawnee Slade, BYU, Sr., 5-11, G/F
Kristen Scheffler, Wyoming, Fr., 5-11, G
All-Defensive Team
Jené Morris, San Diego State, Jr., 5-9, G
Paris Johnson, San Diego State, So., 6-4, C
Mindy Nielson, BYU, So., 5-10, G
Quenese Davis, San Diego State, Jr., 5-9, G
Amy Beggin, New Mexico, Jr., 5-6, G
Player of the Year: Morgan Warburton, Utah
Newcomer of the Year: TK LaFleur, TCU
Freshman of the Year: Jamie Smith, UNLV
Defensive Player of the Year:
Jené Morris, San Diego State
6th Player of the Year: Emma Langford, Wyoming
Coach of the Year: Beth Burns, San Diego State
* notes repeat all-conference selection
** notes three-time all-conference selection
# notes unanimous first-team selection

Cowgirls fall to Lobos

Cowgirls-Lobos stats

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The Wyoming Cowgirls fell behind early and never recovered, losing to New Mexico 63-45 on Saturday in the regular-season finale at The Pit.

The Lobos, 20-9, 9-7 in the Mountain West, ran out to a big early lead and cruised to earn the season split and finish a game ahead of the Cowgirls in the league standings.

Wyoming, which knocked off BYU on he road on Wednesday, finished at 16-13, 8-8.

“New Mexico got off to a great start, hitting their first four shots and got the crowd got into it,” UW head coach Joe Legerski said. “It was a difficult learning experience for this team. The second half we played better, but the game was determined in the first 20 minutes.”

Two Cowgirls finished the game in double figures, led by freshman Emma Langford with 12 points in her 25 minutes of play. She was followed by senior Megan McGuffey with 10 points and seven rebounds. Wyoming shot just 15-of-54 (.278) from the field and didn't hit a 3-pointer in 15 attempts.

New Mexico was led by Amy Beggin and Angela Hartill with 13 points, while Eileen Weissman added 11. Amanda Best finished with a team-high eight rebounds. The Lobos were 22-of-59 (.373) from the field, while out-rebounding Wyoming 46-37.

New Mexico came out on fire to begin the first half, scoring the first 12 points, leading 18-2 before taking a 37-16 halftime lead.

The second half started off very similar to the first as New Mexico went on an 8-2 run to start things off to lad by as much as 27. The Cowgirls would score 10 of the next 14 points but would never really get back in the game.

The Cowgirls will face Colorado State in the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Tuesday in Las Vegas, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Cowgirls beat Cougars in overtime

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

Cowgirls-Cougars stats

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.