As the clock ran out in the Arena Auditorium on Saturday afternoon, the crowd rose to their feet cheering as the UW Cowgirls bested the No. 1 team in the Mountain West, UNLV, and in turn became the new leaders of their conference with only a handful of games left before the Mountain West Tournament.
Since starting off conference play with an upsetting loss to San Diego State in late December; the Cowgirls have only lost two other games, giving them a 10-3 record and the No. 1 spot in the Mountain West Conference. As they are nearing the end of the regular season the Cowgirls are the team to beat.
“We were a totally different team in the first game of the conference,” sophomore Taylor Rusk said. “We’ve definitely found who we are, both offensively and defensively. We have more confidence and are just playing better and shooting better.”
After the Cowgirls lost their conference opener, they went on a seven-game winning streak, beating some of the toughest competition in their conference including Nevada, Boise State and Colorado State.
“Our win against CSU on the road was a really good win for us. Any road win is a good win, but that one especially,” senior Liv Roberts said.
These wins would be what many of the Cowgirls would look back on as the biggest games of the season and the reason they are currently ranked No. 1.
“Beating CSU in Fort Collins and Boise State in Boise were both really big wins. I think that was only the second time coach Joe had beaten Boise there and the only time my class had ever beaten CSU in Fort Collins,” senior Natalie Baker stated.
The Cowgirls knew what needed to be done in order to beat UNLV and they came ready to play. The Cowgirls wasted no time and put up six 3-pointers in the first quarter and another six in the second quarter, leaving them ahead of UNLV 44 – 24 at half. In the second half the Cowgirls slowed down a bit, but managed to hold out for a 69 – 56 win over UNLV.
“Beating UNLV, the number one team at the time, was huge for us,” Rusk expressed. “We just needed some confidence going into the last stretch of conference play and I think these last two games really gave it to us.”
After their win against UNLV the Cowgirls took on San Diego State for the second time this season, but this time the Cowgirls had the home court advantage and proved they deserved the No. 1 spot, beating San Diego 70 – 50.
“Being number one means everyone is going to play their best game against you,” Rusk said. “And that means we have to be up for every game, no matter who it is. And I think that we have definitely proved that we can stay at that number one spot these last couple of games.”
The Cowgirls only have five games left, two of which are at home, to prove that they are the best team in the Mountain West and hold on to their ranking. The Cowgirls have beat three of the five teams they have left to play, lost to one and have yet to play the Air Force this season.
“I definitely think we can’t get too caught up in the number one spot. We’ve just got to keep playing our ball and executing what we want to do. We also need to take care of our bodies and focus on it game-by-game, not as the ‘last five games’.”
The Cowgirls take on San Jose State University this Saturday at 3 p.m. to kick off the final stretch of their regular season before the Mountain West tournament.
