The Wyoming Cowgirls took a trip down to Fort Collins this Saturday to play the Rams. Unfortunately, the Cowgirls couldn’t pull it off in a hostile and raucous road environment despite hanging in the game late, ultimately falling short 75-70.
The Cowgirls got in a hole early, as the Rams used two straight triples and were turning the Cowgirls over often as they raced out to their 12 point lead at 20-8 at the beginning of the second quarter.
The Cowgirl offense would suddenly find a spark, though, as they’d go on a 12-2 run to quickly make it a 22-20 game just mere minutes late midway through the second half. Both teams would battle back and forth late, but the Rams would ultimately have the lead heading into the break by a score of 28-24.
Both teams would come out hot after the break, trading threes early as both teams’ offenses were finding their marks. The Rams seemed poised to make a run taking back a 41-35 lead, bit it was at this point that the Cowgirls would open up a 13-0 run to suddenly take a 48-41 lead.
The Rams wouldn’t go away, though, as they’d go on a 7-0 run themselves to tie the game back up, as the Cowgirls would manage a pair of late free throws to take a 51-49 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
The Cowgirls would again push their lead out, making it 54-49 early in the fourth quarter before the Rams would respond. Both teams would battle, but the Rams would take their lead back at 57-56 midway through the fourth quarter. The Cowgirls wouldn’t go away, taking back a one point lead but the Rams offense would steam ahead as they’d find themselves back up late as the Cowgirls couldn’t overtake them, missing a game tying three pointer late and ultimately dropping the game 75-70.
Emily Mellema led the Cowgirls with 25 points, as she had another career outing against the Rams as she also had a career high 25 points against the Rams in the previous outing between both teams. She was paced by Tess Barnes who had 21 points, as the pair of Barnes and Mellema made nine threes collectively. Malene Pederson rounded out the scorers in double figures with 11.
The Cowgirls shot the ball well, hitting around 47.3% of their shots from the field and 38.5% from deep. However, they allowed the Rams to shoot 49.1% from the field but did hold them to 30.8% from deep with only four made threes. Turnovers proved to be the downfall for the Cowgirls, as their 16 giveaways turned into 25 points for the Rams.
The Cowgirls host UNLV in their next contest, with the game set to tip off at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
