The Cowgirls took their fourth straight loss in a row this Saturday after just coming up short in a comeback effort against the New Mexico Lobos at home.
The Cowgirls found themselves down 10 late in the second quarter, with a lot of ground to make up as they could only bring it within eight at halftime. Still, the Cowgirls quickly sprung themselves back in the game and had a great look to win it at the buzzer but unfortunately couldn’t notch the win.
“We have been taking the right shots, now we just have to start knocking them down,” head coach Heather Ezell said postgame. “We executed like we wanted to do on the defensive end of the floor today, mostly.”
The Cowgirls opened the first quarter of play nicely, enjoying a 6-0 run to start the game before the Lobos could answer with a 5-0 run. Kati Ollilainen would knock down the first triple of the game for the Cowgirls and Allyson Fertig would score down low as the first quarter would end with a low scoring 12-6 lead for the Cowgirls.
The Lobos would quickly flip the script in the second quarter, as they’d take on a huge 16-2 run, including a 13-0 start to the quarter, catching fire from beyond the arc as they’d hit four straight triples.Fertig and Maren McKenna would match for a pair of lay-ins down low for all the Cowgirls could muster offensively early in the second quarter, as the Lobos continued to score, now on a 20-4 run as they’d take their largest lead of the night at 26-16. Emily Mellema would knock down a pair of free throws to cut that lead down to eight, but the Cowgirls would ultimately only notch six points in the whole quarter as they’d be down 26-18 at halftime.
The Cowgirls would come out of the break playing well offensively, as they’d go on a 6-0 run to start with Malene Pederson cutting her way to easy lay-ups under the basket. The Lobos wouldn’t let their lead slip, though, as they’d answer and both teams would battle back and forth as Pederson would continue to shine offensively in the third quarter, scoring 11 points. The Cowgirls would finally knot things up late in the quarter as Mellema would hit a big step back three and Marta Savic would give the Cowgirls a 50-48 lead. The Lobos would hit a three to give themselves back the lead, but McKinley Dickerson would answer herself with five straight to give the Cowgirls a 55-51 edge heading into the final quarter of play.
The fourth quarter would start back and forth, as both teams would trade threes back and forth, each team hitting big shot after big shot. The Cowgirls would maintain their lead midway through the fourth quarter at 54-50 but that would be short lived as the Lobos would go on a 7-0 run to take a 57-54 lead. Pederson would make it a one point game but the Lobos would sink both free throws after the Cowgirls gave up an offensive rebound that would have allowed them to have a chance to take the lead down one. The Cowgirls and Mellema would again bring it within a point and this time would force a jump ball, allowing them that chance at the lead with the final shot. On a bit of a discombobulated play, the ball would find Ola Ustowska outside as she had a clean look from three to win the game but just couldn’t make it as the Cowgirls would lose 59-58.
“We had an opportunity there at the end, we got the shot we wanted, either a layup or a wide open three in the corner,” Ezell said.
The Cowgirls were led by three players in double figures, Pederson netting a team-high 16. Mellema and Fertig would follow with 11 and 10, respectively. The Cowgirls were led on the glass by Ustowska with five rebounds, as she also had a team-high five assists to go with three steals.
The loss now drops the Cowgirls all the way down to fifth in the Mountain West standings, just a few weeks removed from when they were battling for the top spot in the league standings.
The Cowgirls now only have three games remaining on their schedule to try and right the ship and earn some momentum heading into the conference tournament. The Cowgirls are also now in the territory of having to play a first round game, as all teams seeded sixth or below have to play in the first round and don’t earn an automatic bye into the quarterfinals.
The Cowgirls hit the road in their next game in a contest against San Jose State, the game set to tip off at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night.
