Breann Lujan-Halcon
blujanha@uwyo.edu
Cowgirl basketball finished their week with a win at home over the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 73-67. The Cowgirls (3-1) caught their third win of the season in the Arena Auditorium over the Gauchos (1-5) Friday night.
“We knew going in tonight that it would be a difficult contest. Both teams competed at a high level,” Cowgirls basketball head coach Joe Legerski said in a press release. “UCSB has had a number of close games and that record is very deceiving. They create a lot issue (sic), put pressure and make you become stronger with the basketball.”
The Cowgirls took the lead early in the first period and maintained the advantage for the remaining 38 minutes of the game, not giving the Gauchos any elbowroom to play.
Senior guard Marquelle Dent bounced back off of a turnover, grabbing the defensive rebound and hit the first points of the game. Dent’s jumper at the 8:48 mark set off her groove for the remainder of the night.
Dent led the Cowgirls with 17 points, six assists and four rebounds. She also led the Cowgirls in turnovers, committing six during her 26 minutes on the court.
Following Dent, freshman forward Marta Gomez was one of four Cowgirls with points in the double-digits. Gomez recorded 16 points, two assists and four rebounds against the Gauchos.
Senior guard Jordan Kelly tallied 13 points for the night and three offensive and defensive rebounds each.
Leading the Cowgirls in rebounds with six offensive and one defensive, sophomore guard Liv Roberts added 12 points to the board, with 75 percent coming from the charity stripe. Roberts went 8-for-9 from the line.
“We did a good job of getting to the free throw line instead of over handling the ball,” Legerski said. “But we need to get our turnovers down considering we used our bench more this game. Riikka (Kujala) stepped in nicely when Marquelle had to go out with foul trouble. We’ve challenged our bench that they need to contribute in the scoring column.”
The Cowgirls shot 27 for 35 (.771) from the charity stripe but had 17 turnovers for the night. The Gauchos made 22 out of their 67 points off of turnovers. The Cowgirls bench had nine points to the Gauchos 26 points.
Freshman guard Riika Kujala had three assists and one made free throw in her 15 minutes during her third game as a Cowgirl.
Cowgirls basketball will return to action Thursday in Spokane, Washington where they will face the 4-3 Gonzaga Bulldogs. Gonzaga is coming off a five-point loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. MT.
