Wyoming’s three seniors combined for 66 of the team’s 78 total points in the Cowgirls 78-67 victory over NewMexicoTuesday night in Laramie. 

The Cowgirls opened the game with a 5-0 run and held a lead through much of the first half. It wasn’t until the closing minutes of the first half that the Cowgirls fell behind, but a Jade Kennedy three-pointer put the Cowgirls up 28-26 going into the half. 

The Cowgirls played much of the first half without the low-post presence of Hillary Carlson who picked up two fouls and went to the bench just over four minutes into the game. Ashley Sickles stepped in for Carlson with two points and two rebounds in the first half. 

“Ashley came in [for Carlson] and stepped in really well. We didn’t get the ball inside as often as we would have but things basically stayed the same,” Aubrey Vandiver said. 

Vandiver and Jade Kennedy carried the scoring load in Carlson’s absence. In the first half Vandiver had 12 points and five rebounds, and Kennedy hit three shots from behind the arc in the first half and another four in the second. 

“You could see that Jade Kennedy knew that somebody needed to step up and I thought Jade did that. She played well in Hillary’s [Carlson] absence in the first half and continued that in the second half,” head coach Joe Legerski said. 

Vandiver finished with a game-high 28 points, Kennedy had 23 points, and Carlson came in with fifteen points. 

In the second half the the Lobos kept the game close until the six-minute mark. The Cowgirls went on an offensive tear and jumped out to a 66-55 lead with 4:23 to go. After a time out the Cowgirls hit their next two shots to lead 71-55 and secure the victory. 

The Cowgirls benefited from great ball movement, Legerski said. They had 24 assists on 27 field goals and six of the seven Cowgirls to see minutes had at least three assists. Chaundra Sewell and Randi Richardson both led the team with five assists each.

“That’s very important for us to have 24 assists on 27 field goals but more importantly we moved the ball and kept moving the ball in the second half,” Legerski said. 

New Mexico applied a full court pressure for much of the game and the added defensive pressure made the 23 minutes from Bec Campigli and the 17 minutes from Ashley Sickles more important, said Legerski.

“The minutes are huge. We have not faced a great deal of foul trouble and with having to sit Hillary [Carlson] was tough but as long as we could keep the game close there was no reason to bring her off the bench and I think Ashley Sickles did a great job of helping out,” Legerski said. 

The Cowgirls are off until Saturday when they will play the TCU Horned Frogs. The two teams are tied with for second in the Mountain West Conference. 

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