Cowgirls Run Past Chadron State on Education Day

1LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 21, 2023) – In front of a regular-season record crowd of 7,550 fans, the Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team showed out on Education Day, defeating Chadron State, 78-32, Tuesday morning inside the Arena-Auditorium. Well over 5,000 elementary aged students were in attendance for the UW route.

“What an amazing crowd for our players to play in and have the opportunity to compete in front of a record-breaking crowd,” said Head Coach Heather Ezell postgame.

“But it came down to, I thought that we played 40 minutes of Wyoming Basketball. I’m proud of the way our kids competed on both ends. We gave them challenges today, our second quarter got a little sloppy at times but after that, I thought we finished the game very well.”

For the second consecutive game, the Cowgirls got Allyson Fertig going inside as she scored the first eight points of the game. Wyoming’s first 24 points that didn’t come at the free-throw line came in the paint in the contest, as Marta Savic came off the bench and provided some scoring punch inside as well. UW led 23-5 after one quarter of play.

The second quarter began with the Cowgirls controlling both ends of the court, as they pushed the lead up to as many as 22 in the frame early on. Chadron State took a timeout with 6:15 left in the half, trailing 31-10. Ola Ustowska’s 3-pointer with five minutes to play in the half was Wyoming’s first field goal made outside the paint. The Cowgirls led 44-20 at halftime.

A Tess Barnes three got the scoring going in the second half as Wyoming scored the first 15 points of the half and took a 59-20 lead. The Cowgirls kept the margin in the 20s for the rest of the quarter as the two teams exchanged points the rest of the third. UW carried a 63-24 lead into the fourth.

Things slowed down for the Cowgirls in the fourth as they emptied the bench down the stretch as every Cowgirl saw action in the victory. Wyoming did extend its lead to as many as 46 though in the quarter as it scored the first seven points in the frame. UW led 75-28 with 2:51 remaining at the media timeout as things were salted away down the stretch.

Wyoming (3-2) made a season-best 52.5-percent of its shots (32-61) from the floor and hit 5-of-12 (41.7-percent) from 3-point range. The Cowgirls held Chadron State to just 12-of-47 shooting (25.5-percent) and 2-of-11 from beyond-the-arc. UW shot 9-of-10 at the free-throw line in the victory as well.

The Cowgirls enjoyed a 44-23 advantage on the glass and scored 16 points on 13 offensive boards. The Eagles, meanwhile, didn’t score a second-chance point. Wyoming also dominated inside, outscoring CSC 54-18 in points in the paint. The 54 points inside are the most for the Cowgirls since January of 2015 where they also scored 56 paint points in a win over San Jose State.

Savic led all scorers in the contest with a career-high 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Savic also recorded her first-ever double-double as she grabbed a season-best 11 rebounds against the Eagles. Fertig also finished in double figures with 14 points and had six boards. Barnes and Malene Pedersen added nine each and combined to shoot 6-of-11 from the floor and made all five of their free-throw attempts.

The Cowgirl bench scored 41 on the day and was led by Savic. McKinley Dickerson and Maren McKenna had six and five, respectively off the bench. Paula Salazar and Madi Symons chipped in with four each while Joslin Igo got the first three points of her career in the win.

Wyoming now has a week to prepare for former conference rival BYU. The Cougars come to town November 28 for a 6:30 p.m., contest.