Cowgirls have little to be thankful for this holiday

Full Feed

Written by Kendall Hickman

Tuesday, 02 December 2008 09:29

Senior Megan McGuffey looks to Hillary Carlson down low on the post. Andrew Fossbinder/BI

The Cowgirl basketball team didn’t rest over the recent Thanksgiving break.

In fact, the squad has been busy since the University of Wyoming offices closed Tuesday evening.

On Nov. 25, Wyoming hosted the Boise State Broncos and walked away with their third victory, a 62-55 defeat over the Broncos from the west.

The action continued on Saturday, when the Cowgirls traveled to Eugene, Ore. They suffered a loss against the Oregon Ducks, 51-45.

Wyoming faced a 15-point deficit in the first half of the BSU match, which they overcame to secure a win.

Cowgirl freshman Emma Langford led the team with 21 points in 37 minutes of play, while sophomore Hillary Carlson put up 13 points and seniors Elisabeth Dissen and Megan McGuffey each added nine.

The Broncos started the game with an early 4-0 lead, and it wasn’t until three minutes in that Wyoming saw some numbers after Langford found the net.

The Broncos went on a 5-0 run, to which Wyoming responded scoring five of six to pull within three points, 10-7.

Boise State answered with an 8-0 run to expand their lead, and after five scoreless minutes for the Cowgirls, Carlson added a two-pointer. BSU, however, made another five points to earn a 23-9 lead, and continued to halftime, Wyoming trailing 37-24.

The team that walked out after halftime wasn’t the one that started the game.

After the break, the Cowgirls pulled within eight, at 39-31, and began to climb out of the hole. A Wyoming 9-1 run put them within one, 42-41. After BSU pulled even more ahead, the Cowgirls retaliated by making four of the next five shots to gain the lead at 48-46. The Broncos recovered the lead at 51-50, and a Dissen two-pointer reversed the sides again. Bronco free throws gave them the lead once more, but Wyoming answered with five points, earning a 57-53 lead.

The Cowgirls scored the final five points in the last minute and finished with a 62-55 win.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Wyoming head coach Joe Legerski said. “Whether it’s a carryover from a tough game [against Gonzaga] or just a quick turnaround, the best thing I’m able to say is that we changed it at halftime.”

It was in a six-point defeat on Saturday that handed the Cowgirls their third loss of the season.

Langford netted 10 points and five rebounds, while Carlson added eight points.

Wyoming took an 11-10 advantage, but the Ducks, who went up 20-11, regained it. Six minutes passed until the Cowgirls broke out of their pointless slump, but Oregon carried on with a 5-2 run to hold a 25-13 lead.

The Cowgirl defense didn’t allow an Oregon point for the final five minutes of the first half, but at the buzzer, Wyoming still found themselves down by three.

The Ducks responded to a second-half Cowgirl run with nine unanswered points of their own, propelling their lead to double digits at 41-28.

Wyoming was within four at 49-45, but could not pull off a victory as the Cowgirls lost 51-45 at the buzzer.

“We gave the other team too many opportunities with our turnovers,” Legerski said.

“Oregon has great size, which we had a difficult time handling. We went to the zone, which really got us back in to the game. I attribute some of it to our youth, but at some point we need to get over those growing pains and move forward as a group,” he said.

Wyoming continues road-play this week when they meet Big Sky rivals Weber State on Thursday and Idaho State on Saturday.

Email the author

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites