Allyson Fertig may be one of the best, if not the best Wyoming native to ever play on the hardwood for Wyoming basketball, both on the men’s and women’s side of things. And if you don’t believe my word for it, then her numbers this season–and seasons prior, to that point–can do all the talking. They certainly prove the point.
Fertig is currently having the best season of her illustrious and successful career right now, averaging career highs in nearly every statistical category across the board. Not only does she lead the Cowgirls in points and rebounding, but Fertig–who was the pre-season Mountain West player of the year–also leads the league in both categories as well, averaging 19.4 points and 10.5 rebounds a night.
However, you may be shocked to find out that playing for Wyoming–let alone in basketball, of all sports–wasn’t exactly the Glendo, Wyoming native’s dream growing up. Playing college basketball for the Cowgirls certainly has been a surreal experience for Fertig, sure, but she had originally felt more inclined to play softball growing up.
“I really didn’t play basketball until I got introduced to it in the fifth grade and I didn’t really like it,” Fertig said. “I was more of a softball kid, but when I moved to Douglas and got asked to be on the travel team, that’s where my career took off.”
It wasn’t long until Fertig became a dominant high school player, as she led Douglas High School to three separate state championships during her prep career and earned two straight Wyoming girl’s basketball Gatorade Player of the Year honors in 2020 and 2021. That alone was enough to put her name on the map for the next level and it wasn’t long until she was offered to play in Laramie. That moment, for her, was when she realized just how special her basketball career was shaping up to be.
“For me, it was like ‘oh, I can play at a higher level and UW wants me,’” Fertig said. “There was no better place for me to play than my home state and to be close to my family so they can come watch me.”
“So, in the end, it became a dream.”
Her new dream soon became a reality–and much quicker than Fertig had expected–when she was thrust into a very meaningful playing role in her freshman season, a position she very soon came to thrive in.
“I went into college expecting just to stay on the bench my freshman year, so I wasn’t expecting much,” Fertig revealed. “But then, when I actually came in my freshman year, I just had a great group of coaches who helped me develop really quickly…and they saw the potential in me.”
You wouldn’t be able to tell that Fertig was a freshman during the 2021-2022 campaign from her contributions alone, as she was putting up incredible numbers. In that season, Fertig led the Cowgirls in rebounding–as she has done in all four of her seasons suiting up in the Brown and Gold–and even scored in double-figures, putting up 10.5 points a night in her freshman season. Her steady outpour throughout the season earned her Mountain West freshman of the year honors that season, beginning a cascade of individual honors that Fertig has been able to achieve throughout her career.
Still, one major accomplishment has yet eluded Fertig throughout her playing career, one that every individual honor she has earned cannot make up for. That one achievement would be winning the Mountain West tournament–and subsequently punching a ticket to the illustrious NCAA tournament.
The Cowgirls haven’t been able to accomplish either of those goals since the season before Fertig joined the roster. In the 2020-2021 season, the Cowgirls were able to string together four wins in four days on their way to their first Mountain West tournament championship title in program history. That NCAA tournament appearance that followed that title run in 2021 was only the second in program history as well, with the first coming in 2008. Fertig, and this senior-ladden Cowgirls’ team, have their sights set on becoming the third team in program history to take the Cowgirls to the big dance and just the second to win a Mountain West title.
“We’ve been so close, like in my sophomore year,” Fertig said, as the Cowgirls competed in the Mountain West title game that year. “Then last year, we got knocked off, which we were not expecting at all. So, this is really mine and the other senior’s last chance, it’s either now or never.”
Regardless of what transpires in what will be Fertig’s final months battling in a Cowgirl uniform, the impact she’s had on the program and what the program has done for her is clear. The recent successes of Cowgirl basketball wouldn’t have been without her–and the person Fertig has become wouldn’t be without her four years lacing up for the Cowgirls.
“My basketball legacy is one thing, but my legacy as a person overall is what’s more important to me,” Fertig said.
“That matters more to me than any record or basketball stat that I could ever get.”
