A year ago, the Wyoming Cowgirls and BYU Cougars squared up in Arena-Auditorium, where the Cowgirls easily dismantled the Cougars by a score of 86-74, which handed the Cougars their first loss of the season at the time.
Unfortunately, the Cowgirls couldn’t get a win over the Cougars’ Big 12 rival in Colorado in their inaugural game of the 2024-2025 season, but were keen to avenge a bad shooting night against the Buffaloes when they traveled to Provo, Utah to take on the Cougars.
In that season opening tilt, the Cowgirls shot an unimpressive 20% from deep, finding the mark on only three triples. The Cowgirls were also careless with the basketball in their opener, turning the ball over 19 times in the 56-50 loss. If the Cowgirls were to find a road win over the Cougars, those numbers would have to be improved upon.
However within the span of just one and a half minutes midway through the first quarter, senior wing Tess Barnes would cash in three triples in a row, quickly tying the Cowgirls’ three point record last game. By the end of the first half, the Cowgirls had eclipsed a little more than double what they had made in their previous outing.
Going 7/14 from deep at the half is certainly a stat line that aided in giving the Cowgirls a 40-27 lead at half. Forcing 11 turnovers for 13 points is also a factor in giving the Cowgirls’ a matching lead of 13 as well. However, with eight turnovers of their own in the first half, the Cowgirls still had some things to clean up if they wanted to hang onto their lead in the second half.
The Cowgirls, however, would quickly find that lead diminish and flip in the blink of an eye.
With the Cougars burying three straight triples to aid a 11-1 run to open the third quarter, this game tightened up quickly for a Cowgirls team who looked primed to run away with this one at halftime. After just the first eight minute span in the third quarter, the Cougars took a 54-43 lead, extending their run to 27-3 before the Cowgirls would finally answer with their first and only field goal of the quarter, which would lead to the Cougars opening up a 12 point lead at the end of the third quarter after being down by 13 just ten minutes prior.
Although the Cowgirls would cut the lead to seven in the fourth, the Cougars’ offense was just too overpowering for the Cowgirls to swing the game back into their favor, as their abhorrent third quarter play would prove to be too much to come back from in the final quarter of play.
By the time the smoke cleared in this one, the Cougars’ offensive numbers had skyrocketed from the first half to the second. The Cowgirls could do little to stop the Cougars’ strong shooting, as the Cougars would complete the second half with an impressive 9/11 mark from deep. While the Cowgirls paced the Cougars 17-18 in the fourth frame, the Cougars outscored the Cowgirls by 25 in the third quarter, which was what ultimately put them away.
The Cowgirls saw little production off their bench, a big point of contention in both opening contests for the Cowgirls. The Cougar bench outscored the Cowgirl bench 15-0.
Allyson Fertig led the Cowgirls in the loss with a double-double including 22 points and 18 rebounds. She was paced by Malene Paderson with a 15 point outing and Barnes with an 11 point outing.
The Cowgirls will be back at home in their next contest, taking on Regis at 6:30 p.m on November 13.
