The University of Wyoming women’s basketball team beat the University of Denver Pioneers 78 – 74 this past Tuesday, Dec. 4 at the Arena Auditorium in Laramie.
The Cowgirls were led in scoring by freshman Karla Erjavec who had 18 points, going 7 – 12 from the field and 3 – 4 from three. She was followed by seniors Bailee Cotton and Marta Gomez, who had 16 and 15 points respectively.
“Whenever we play Denver it tends to be a game that is always close, no matter how good they are,” Bailee Cotton said. “So to get this win, especially when they started to come back, it feels awesome.”
The Cowgirls came out quickly in the first quarter and put up 22 points over the Pioneers’ 15. The Pioneers rallied early, with the lead changing four times and the score being tied twice throughout the first quarter.
“That’s the thing that we have, everybody can shoot and everybody can make big plays,” Marta Gomez said. “And I think everybody is ready every game to step up and make those big shots.”
In the second quarter the Cowgirls carried their momentum from the first and put up 21 points. The Pioneers put up another 15 points in the second.
“We came in knowing that their guards were just going to shoot three’s,” Cotton said. “So that’s why we had to be up so far, and then they did a good job, honestly, finding their posts on those rolls and we were having a hard time covering it.”
The Cowgirls started to lose momentum in the second half, whereas the Pioneers picked up the pace. The cowgirls only scored 16 points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth. The Pioneers, however, put up 22 points in both the third and fourth quarters, but it was not enough and the Cowgirls pulled off the 78 – 74 victory.
“This group makes nothing easy,” head coach Joe Legerski said. “But they don’t give in. And when you have a lead, sometimes it’s harder to try to keep that, specifically against a team that’s five and one, playing very well has the ability to shoot the three-point shot and they put so much pressure on you. We were able to do a pretty good job defensively in limiting the amount of three’s.”
The Cowgirls next game is against the University of Idaho this Saturday, Dec. 8 at 1 p.m. MST at the Arena Auditorium in Laramie.
