Five Cowgirls scored in double digits against conference opponent San Jose State to seal a 68-59 victory in their final regular season matchup.
Cowgirls basketball traveled to the west coast on Friday, March 3 to face the San Jose State Spartans, and the win brought the Pokes to 21-8 overall and 13-5 in the Mountain West Conference, and the Spartans to 10-20 overall and 7-11 in the MWC. They shot strong in the game, sinking 27 of their 51 shots for a final shooting percentage of 53%. San Jose attempted almost 20 more shots in the game, but only made 25 for a final percentage of 36%.
“It was a really good team effort. We got off to a good start, then went in to a little bit of a lull after Clara (Tapia) got into foul trouble and she was our leader out there on the court,” head coach Joe Legerski said. “We kept battling and I thought we got back in to it in the third quarter.”
The leading scorer for the Pokes posse was guard Hailey Ligocki, who shot 6-8 from the field and 2-4 from the free throw line for 14 total points. Forward Natalie Baker was the next top scorer, and she reached a double-double with 14 rebounds and 13 points. Bailee Cotton also had a double-double in the game, grabbing 11 rebounds and scoring 11 points. The other two Cowgirls to score in double digits were Taylor Rusk and Clara Tapia who scored 11 and 10 points respectively.
“Hailey (Ligocki) played big down the stretch, made three big baskets for us,” Legerski said. “To see Bailee (Cotton) and Natalie (Baker) have double-doubles was great. We had a few things to work around with Clara in foul trouble, Marta tweaked an ankle, so we had to ask a little more of our bench. Everybody really stepped up in this win tonight.”
The first quarter showed a tight matchup between the two teams, with the lead changing hands four times in the first five minutes of the game. The Pokes pulled ahead seven points for their biggest lead in the first three quarters with an eight point run against San Jose. The first period ended 19-14 in favor of UW.
The Pokes would lose their lead three minutes into the second period with a three-pointer from SJSU’s Rachol West. The Spartans outscored the Cowgirls 20-11 in the period to take a 34-30 lead going into halftime.
The Pokes fought back in a closely contested third period, regaining the lead with around two minutes left. A half-court buzzer beater would give SJSU the lead back with the Pokes trailing 48-49 going into the fourth.
“We kept battling and I thought we got back in to it in the third quarter,” Legerski said. “San José State throws one in from half court to take the momentum back and we knew we had to reach down again and fight back. What we ended up talking about was after three we were down one, at the half we were down four, so I told the team we were winning. We came out in the fourth quarter, stayed aggressive. It was difficult tonight. They press you 94-feet, trap you and you have to make good decisions with the ball.”
The Cowgirls came back strong in the fourth quarter and tied the game with around nine minutes left in the game. Over the final minutes of the game, the Pokes managed to slowly pull ahead of the Spartans, outscoring them 20-10 in the period for a final score of 59-68.
On the night, the Pokes pulled in a commanding 42 total rebounds to SJSU’s 30. They also dished more assists, with 14 to the Spartans’ 11. They did lose in the turnover battle 18-7 during San Jose’s full court press, but also had strong bench play on the night with 18 points coming from the bench.
The win sealed the second place spot in the conference and gained the Cowgirls a first round bye in the MWC Championships in Las Vegas.
