Kendyll Ferrall
Kferral1@uwyo.edu
For the University of Wyoming Cowgirls basketball team, this season is about where they finish, not where they start. With a roster dominated by freshmen and sophomores, the Cowgirls look to the only two returning starters to lead the season.
Picked to finish seventh out of 11 teams in the Mountain West preseason poll after losing guard Kaitlyn Mileto, and forwards Kayla Woodward and Jordan Sibrel, Wyoming will rely on the experience of the team’s only seniors, guards Marquelle Dent and Jordan Kelley.
“It’s an interesting dynamic this year, with just two seniors,” head coach Joe Legerski said, who is returning for his 13th season. “We have 11 freshmen and sophomores, and so Marquelle and Jordan have done a great job of helping the young players, trying to guide them through some of the sets we’re working on and some days, just tying to get them through practice.”
Named the MW Preseason Player of the Year, Dent led her team in nearly every category last year, ending the season with the most minutes played, points scored and free throws made. Nearly untouchable when it comes to assists, Dent ranked first on her team and in the conference, and 17th in nation last season.
“I’m happy for Marquelle,” Legerski said. “The amount of time and effort she has put into her game reflects on her selection as the MW Preseason Player of the Year. The challenge now is for the team to help her realize the honor. History tells us the player of the year honor goes to the player of the team that wins the conference championship.”
But, the 5’7” guard isn’t interested in spending her time looking back on last season, or even taking credit for her work done during the preseason. Propelled into a leadership role after the departure of Woodward, Sibrel and Mileto, Dent is more concerned with navigating the team’s shifting dynamic than with relaying her many accolades.
“It’s never about where you start, it’s always about where you finish,” Dent said. “Individual success always comes with team success, in order for me to succeed I have to have my team help me out, so I’m just focused on that.”
As the team’s most experienced and arguably most skilled ball handler and play director, Dent naturally fell into a guidance role.
“We don’t have the late scorers that we used to, but I think our team chemistry is still going to be really good. We all really get along and enjoy playing together,” Dent said. “Obviously we’re really young, but we have people who work really hard every day and that helps. Obviously me and Jordan are just going to have to step up and lead to make sure they know what we’re doing on offense and defense.”
Alongside Dent, Kelley’s status as one of two returning seniors and starters has cemented her as an authority figure for her younger teammates.
The team’s relative inexperience will play a role in the Cowgirls’ performance, but for the 5’9” guard, having a young roster isn’t a disadvantage for Wyoming, it’s an opportunity to capitalize on last season’s shortcomings.
Having to replace two of the Cowgirls’ best outside players, Woodward and Mileto, with less-experienced shooters has forced the Cowgirls to develop a stronger inside game and move away from the team’s tendency to play from the perimeter.
“I’ve seen one thing that we really needed to work on from last season to this season was getting our post game back in order, we really struggled with that last season,” Kelley said. “We really relied on our three-point shooting with Kaitlyn and Kayla. We still have shooters, but maybe not as experienced so we’re looking more to go inside and attack.”
With so many players lacking meaningful minutes on the floor or playing time at all, Kelley is hopeful that the younger girls will quickly develop the mental capacity needed to play Division I basketball.
“Since we have so many younger girls and girls who haven’t necessarily had experience, it takes a lot of mental strength to be out there and in a situation where you’re tired and maybe down by one point, and to know what you’re doing on defense on what you’re doing on offense,” Kelley said. “I could see that potentially being a weakness due to our youth.”
Wyoming’s youth and the Woodward-Sibrel-Mileto void is bound to be a reoccurring theme throughout the season and for Dent and Kelley, it was a leading factor behind the team’s relatively low projected seventh place finish, after finishing fifth last season.
But both of the Cowgirls’ senior guards are taking this season one game at a time, and focusing their attention on where their team is headed, not where it is.
“It definitely gives you something to work towards, I don’t necessarily mind it,” Kelley said. “Being picked seventh at the beginning doesn’t mean you’re going to be seventh at the end.”
