Unfortunately for the Cowgirls, the Horned Frogs were too much to handle Wednesday night, giving Wyoming arguably their toughest loss of the season, going down 68-47 to an impressive TCU team.

Senior guard Aubrey Vandiver gave Wyoming their first lead at 7-6 with a fade away jumper on the baseline before TCU went on a 7-0 run to make the score 13-7. The Cowgirls would take the lead again at 18-17 after a crowd-rousing layup from senior forward Hillary Carlson.

TCU would eventually end the first half with a 27-24 lead after a last second lay-in by sophomore forward Starr Crawford.

Crawford led the way for the Horned Frogs in the first half with six points and seven rebounds in just 14 minutes of play.

Vandiver was the star of the first half for Wyoming going 5-8 for 11 points while Carlson added six points and four rebounds.

Wyoming got off to a sluggish start in the second half allowing TCU to expand their lead to 38-26 at the 15:54 mark. TCU’s largest lead of the game was 22 points at the 1:18 mark.

The Cowgirls shot a meager 36.5% from the field and senior forward Hillary Carlson had one of her worst outings of the season, going scoreless in the first half.

Sophomore forward Chaundra Sewell was tops for the Cowgirls in points and rebounds with 18 and 9. Vandiver added 16 points for the Cowgirls.

Head coach Joe Legerski said in his postgame conference that TCU was the best team they’ve played all season and there’s a reason why they won the conference last season. He emphasized the fact that TCU has a very balanced team, seven players had between 6 and 11 points, and is hard to guard collectively.

“You don’t come into this place and think you are going to have a game like this. They have an excellent team and we were fortunate to play really well,” TCU coach Jeff Mittie said after the game. “You know how tough it is to come up here and leave with a win because [Wyoming] has such a quality team… it feels good.”

The Cowgirls head to Salt Lake City to take on Utah squad on Wednesday, January 19th at 3 p.m.

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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Their other five victories were against Westminster (Utah), Washington State, Montana, Utah State, and New Mexico. They also beat Montana-Western in an exhibition matchup. The Cowgirls’ record currently stands at 11-3 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West conference.

With momentum on their side, the Cowgirls continue conference play tonight against the Texas Christian Horned Frogs (10-6, 2-0) in the Arena-Auditorium at 7 p.m.

The Cowgirls and Horned Frogs are two of the best teams in the Mountain West Conference so far this season. TCU currently sits at third in MWC standings while Wyoming boasts the top spot. So far TCU has the highest scoring offense in the MWC with 71.1 points per game while Wyoming possesses the best scoring defense allowing only 54.7 points per game. Additionally, both teams rank in the top five in the MWC in most major statistical categories.

Wyoming is led by senior forward Hillary Carlson, who was recently named the MWC Co-Player of the Week and averages 18.5 points per game. Senior guard Aubrey Vandiver leads the team with 9.9 rebounds a game and is second on the team with 17.7 points a game, according to Wyoming Athletics.

Senior guard Emily Carter leads TCU with 19.7 points per game and senior guard Helena Sverrisdottir is tops on the team with 4.3 assists per game while adding 17.3 points per game, according to TCU Athletics.

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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As the ball careened off the rim once, and then again, hope faded to an imperceptible glimmer for Wyoming, and it appeared all but certain that the Cowboys and fourth-year head coach Heath Schroyer would once again come up heartbreakingly short in a crucial conference game against a top opponent.  

Sophomore wing Daylen Harrison grabbed a rebound and fired a desperation heave from the corner in the game’s dwindling moments, but Harrison’s shot clanged off the side of the rim and – for the briefest of moments – the ball hovered over the court like an errant balloon.

A forest of arms rose up under the hoop, and the Arena-Auditorium trembled under the tension of the baited breaths of 4,404 people as the clock ticked down to :01.   

With a sea of tumult thrashing about around him, Francisco Cruz grabbed the loose ball and – falling backwards – threw up one final prayer.

The buzzer sounded. The net rippled. A celebration of brown and gold erupted.

And a team’s entire season – and identity – may have undergone a complete transformation in the blink of an eye.

Cruz’s floater over the outstretched arm of New Mexico forward Alex Kirk proved to be the clincher in Wyoming’s 67-66 win over the Lobos on Saturday—ending a thriller of white-knuckle proportions which was anything but just another conference game for the Cowboys.

“It was a big win for our program and our team, and it was great for our kids,” Schroyer said in his press conference following the game.

Photo: DJ Bowman

“New Mexico is an unbelievable program with outstanding players and coaches. For us to get a win over a quality program like this is a big step in the right direction for our team.”

In a season which has been – in its young lifespan – tumultuous at best, and often thoroughly disappointing, Wyoming (8-8, 1-1 MWC) finally played to its potential and put together the signature win it has been searching for – and perhaps the very win Schroyer has been searching for throughout the past four seasons.

Hampered by nagging injuries to two of its top contributors – juniors Afam Muojeke and Adam Waddell – Wyoming had looked shaky in its first 15 contests of its 2010-11 campaign, as inconsistency and youth plagued the team in disappointing non-conference setbacks to Northern Colorado, North Florida, South Dakota, UC Irvine, and Wisconsin-Green Bay. 

The memories of a dismal 2009-10 season began to resurface after Wyoming blew a 13-point first half lead in its conference opener at rival Colorado State, as the Rams outscored the Cowboys 36-21 in the second half and ultimately put Wyoming away by a 73-60 margin.

Against New Mexico on Saturday, however, the Cowboys stood toe-to-toe with a formidable, 12 win team, conceding nothing to the defending conference champions.

Wyoming shot the ball well, hitting on 52.4 percent of its shots, and the Cowboys kept pace with the heavily favored Lobos thanks largely to two gutsy bench performances.

Harrison – who had struggled noticeably from the field in recent performances and did not see action against CSU – had a career afternoon, scoring 17 points on 6-7 shooting and pulling down four crucial rebounds.

“I thought Daylen was spectacular,” Schroyer said. “This was the Daylen we thought he could be. He was aggressive, and made the most of his opportunities today.”

Perhaps even more critical – and encouraging for the rest of the season – was the stellar performance from Waddell.

The 6’10 big man has been hobbled by an Achilles injury dating back to last season – missing a good portion of the nonconference season – but on Saturday he showed up in dominant fashion, even if his health still is not at 100 percent.

Waddell came through with 16 points, eight rebounds, and a pair of blocks in just 23 minutes of action – an impressive performance, which gives renewed optimism to Wyoming’s inside game if Waddell’s health continues to improve over the course of the season.

“We had no post that could guard Waddell,” New Mexico head coach Steve Alford said.

“Waddell did a heck of a job.”

“To have a healthy Adam Waddell, it really makes a difference,” Schroyer added.

Still, despite the efforts of Harrison, Waddell, and Desmar Jackson, who added 15 points of his own, it appeared as though it would be all for naught for the Cowboys when senior Lobo guard Dairese Gary, who led New Mexico with 24 points, sank two free throws to give the Lobos a 66-65 lead in the game’s waning moments.

A year ago in Laramie, UW went the distance with a leviathan New Mexico squad which finished the season 30-5, only to falter in the game’s closing moments and lose a 70-68 heartbreaker.

The Cowboys never recovered from the loss, struggling throughout the rest of the season and finishing with a 3-13 conference mark.

This year was different though, and only time will tell just how significant of a win it was.

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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The real champion of the underdogs is Matt “looks like the manager at Radio Shack, only taller” Hasselbeck and the now 8-9 Seattle Seahawks.

Seattle’s 41-36 victory over the former champions was nothing more than a farce, and as a fan I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Maybe this win is a sign that Pete Carroll—with the blood of the USC football program still on his hands—and the Seahawks have all bought into the high-energy style that helped propel USC to the top of college football, well, that and numerous NCAA violations.

There was more to this win than a collective spirit of nothing-to-lose and limitless energy. Pete Carroll did not single-handedly inspire this team; although his tactics certainly played a large part in what this team accomplished.

The beautiful thing about what Seattle did on Saturday was that it reminded us that the most dangerous weapon on the football field is a team with something to prove. There is perhaps no feeling that can will a team to win more than a feeling of disrespect.

Since the second week of the season, there was no doubt in the sporting world that the winner of the NFC West was not going to belong in the playoffs. The Rams and Seahawks jockeyed for the position of “worst team to ever make the playoffs” the entire season. Throughout the season, Seattle knew that their success would ultimately be deemed a failure.

On The Onion website there was a story explaining how New Orleans had earned a first round bye since they drew Seattle in round one.

Las Vegas opened the point spread by favoring New Orleans by 10 and a half points at Seattle.

Countless commentators joked about the Seahawks deciding between Charlie Whitehurst and a washed-up Matt Hasselbeck for the starting quarterback position.

The NFL began discussing the implementation of a rule that would require a team to have at least an 8-8 record to make the playoffs.

Seattle’s best receiver was a well-known head case that had been out of football for two years.

Seattle’s best running back was a well-known head case that vanished in Buffalo.

The 7-9 Seattle Seahawks could not beat the New Orleans Saints.

However, Seattle’s washed up quarterback threw four touchdowns, one of which went to former head case Mike Williams and another to 34 year-old Brandon Stokley. Meanwhile, Marshawn Lynch ran for 131 yards including the game-sealing touchdown, when he broke eight tackles and vaulted himself into a permanent place with NFL playoff highlights.

Finally, Pete Carroll coached an incredible game; the same Pete Carroll who floundered in his first attempt to coach in the NFL and who left the USC program in shambles.

Seattle was the most dangerous team during wildcard weekend, and they made a huge statement for the NFL. A team with something to prove is a team no one should want to play.

However, for me, 7-9 Seattle meant something more. Last semester, I wrote a satirical piece diagramming who could win the NFC West.

I desperately hoped that the division would be won with a losing record, and having my wish granted made the season for me.

When the Seahawks made the playoffs, Pete Carroll said that he thought it was “pretty cool” that they were the first team to make the playoffs without a winning record.

I have one last request of the Seahawks and that is for Pete Carroll to stand at the pre-game press conference this week and tell the reporters with a straight face that this is a big game for them because it gives their team a shot to get back to .500 on the season.

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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Their home slate begins Saturday, when they will host the University of Idaho Vandals at 12 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium. They host three more games, Westminster (Utah) on Dec. 11, Wisconsin on Dec. 15 and Washington State on Dec. 18 before taking a two-game road trip.  The Dec. 15 tilt between the Badgers and Cowgirls will be a televised on the The Mtn. Sports Network—a rematch of the 2007 WNIT championship game played at the Arena-Auditorium in front of a sold-out crowd, which the Cowgirls won convincingly, 72-56.

The Cowgirls will then head to Missoula, Montana on Dec. 21, to face off against the Montana Grizzlies and will continue on to Logan, Utah to play the Utah State Aggies Dec. 23 before taking a week off, when players will head home for the holiday.

An exhibition in Rock Springs, head coach Joe Legerski’s hometown, against Montana-Western will mark the post-Christmas return of the Cowgirls Dec. 30.

The New Year brings the beginning of conference play for the Cowgirls, as they will host CSU on Jan. 5 and travel to New Mexico on Jan. 8.

Branding Iron

The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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Their home slate begins Saturday, when they will host the University of Idaho Vandals at 12 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium. They host three more games, Westminster (Utah) on Dec. 11, Wisconsin on Dec. 15 and Washington State on Dec. 18 before taking a two-game road trip.  The Dec. 15 tilt between the Badgers and Cowgirls will be a televised on the The Mtn. Sports Network—a rematch of the 2007 WNIT championship game played at the Arena-Auditorium in front of a sold-out crowd, which the Cowgirls won convincingly, 72-56.

The Cowgirls will then head to Missoula, Montana on Dec. 21, to face off against the Montana Grizzlies and will continue on to Logan, Utah to play the Utah State Aggies Dec. 23 before taking a week off, when players will head home for the holiday.  

An exhibition in Rock Springs, head coach Joe Legerski’s hometown, against Montana-Western will mark the post-Christmas return of the Cowgirls Dec. 30.

The New Year brings the beginning of conference play for the Cowgirls, as they will host CSU on Jan. 5 and travel to New Mexico on Jan. 8. 

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I know what it feels like to live in one of those northern sports cities like Minneapolis or Detroit, or even a little less northern, Cleveland. I go to school in Laramie, a place where the sports are, at times, as hard to deal with as the painfully cold climate.

It’s far less dramatic in Laramie than in places like Cleveland; Wyoming doesn’t have a LeBron James who left us in great disappointment and anger to a much warmer, more glamorous place like Miami. Something like that could have happened if Dave Christensen would have had the possibility to leave for Arizona State this upcoming offseason. Ten wins in two seasons and a 3-8 record this year doesn’t really build a firm stepping stone to lift your coaching leg into the Pac 10 though. 

Sorry Dave, guess you will have to wait one more year to construct your stairs made out of Cowboy football. Good luck in the WAC next year—I mean MWC; I’m sorry, I got the letters mixed up after TCU left this week.

If you have picked up this publication any time in the last two or three years, you probably know my stance when it comes to Cowboy athletics. I’m highly skeptical, bitter and brazenly sarcastic to a point of unkindness. This disposition, however, does not come from a hate for Cowboy sports.

When I was a kid, well actually I’m still a kid now, a 22-year-old about to graduate but still very much an immature college student. Personality analysis aside, before college (not sure what age, somewhere between whippersnapper and delinquent) when I was shorter than I was now and didn’t have to shave as often, I attended Wyoming football games as a wide-eyed Brown and Gold-loving Cowboy fan.

I loved watching the underdog Cowboys beat the hell out of Utah with nothing but scrappy defense and what could best be described as hard-nosed Cowboy football.  I would go with my dad and little brother and it didn’t matter that it was freezing cold; it was the atmosphere and experience that made you enjoy the game no matter if they won or lost.

Since then, in the four years I paid to go to school year and attend the games occasionally, my outlook has changed. I’m still a fan, but those aforementioned words like skeptical, sarcastic, and even bitter seem to dominate my perspective.

Whether it’s the fans, the players, or just the oversized, flamboyant whoa “Black Betty” megatron scoreboard, I just don’t feel the same attachment to Cowboy football. Concerning the scoreboard, there are other songs besides “Cotton Eyed Joe” and whatever is playing in the Parlor at the Buck this weekend. You would think that all of the old Cowboy Joe Clubbers would have remixed the Cowboy playlist and turned down the volume a bit by now.

Students are wasted when they go to the games, I will not say if this is or is not my strategy of attending and coping with games, but it is an apparent part of the stadium atmosphere. This year, myself and 11 other guys rented an RV and drove down to Austin, Texas to the Cowboys-Longhorns game. Aside from it being the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life–12 dudes in an RV for a 22-hour drive to Austin plus some beer is self-explanatory when it comes to coolness—the football game taught me what college football really is; college football in the south. 

Guys wore collared shirts to the game and the girls dressed up too. People cheered for the team, staying for the whole game without puking down the front of themselves and being dragged out by their flat-billed hat by a cop.

Sure, I’m aware that I sacrificed the privilege of attending football games like this when I decided to pay less than $5,000 a year to go to college. However, there is an unacceptable excess of flat-billed puking in the stands at War Memorial Stadium. 

There is nothing uglier than a yellow flat billed hat; “307” on the front in brown letters, just to make sure that nice Colorado girl knows not to answer the first three digits of the phone number that appears on her phone from out of state because “Oh, it’s that drunk Wyoming jackass that was falling all over himself at the game.”

The yellow is supposed to be Brown and Gold, but somehow each week Cowboy uniforms drift closer to Brown and Yellow—a wonderful color combination in every way (There’s some of that sarcasm I mentioned earlier)

Before I made some comment about Christensen using Wyoming as a stepping stone, this is purely speculation. However, if he stays here too long he could slowly turn into Joe Glenn and, as a combination of the poor performance of his players and the cold wind of Laramie, completely erode his football soul. 

Call all this four years of frustration with the culture of Cowboy football vented. 

Do I feel better? No, not really, because Cowboy basketball season is just getting started.

Email: Brad Estes  

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The Cowgirls traveled to Northridge, California over Thanksgiving break and returned to Laramie with a little extra weight in their luggage—a tournament championship trophy.

In the first game of the Woodland Hills Holiday Inn Thanksgiving Basketball Classic Friday, the Cowgirls played the Chattanooga Lady Mocs. 

Led by the strong play and double-double performance of senior guard Aubrey Vandiver, the Cowgirls were able to escape defeat and head to the championship game against the Wichita State Shockers. 

“Aubrey played as good a 40 minutes that I’ve seen from a player,” Cowgirl head coach Joe Legerski told Wyoming Athletics. 

“Not only did she have 31 points and 14 rebounds, she had a great defensive performance as well. I thought we came out and executed the game plan from the beginning, hit some shots, which gave us confidence. Chattanooga is a good basketball team. They’ve won their conference several years in a row and made it to postseason. This is a big win for us as a program.”

Vandiver ended the game with a career-high 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Hillary Carlson added 10 points and three boards, while Kristen Scheffler chipped in with eight points of her own.

The Cowgirls led by six at halftime, but a Chattanooga comeback capped off by a three-pointer with less than a minute to go tied the game at 65. Vandiver continued her aggressive play, drawing a foul with less than thirty seconds left and hitting the game clinching free throw. Strong defense and a late steal by forward Jade Kennedy allowed Wyoming to hold on for the 66-65 win.

The win led the Cowgirls to the championship game against the Shockers, who defeated host Cal State Northridge to make their way to the championship. 

The Cowgirls fell behind early but were able to ride the strong play of Vandiver and Carlson to an eight-point victory. 

Vandiver ended with 13 points and seven rebounds while tournament MVP Carlson finished with 18 points and nine boards. Both were named to the All-Tournament Team. Bec Campigli chipped in 14 points to help the Cowgirls earn the championship.

“It was a tremendous performance against a good Wichita State team,” said Legerski. 

“It came down to so many big plays from so many people. We always count on Hillary and Aubrey but I thought Bec (Campigli) gave us a big lift in the first half with 14 points and then the effort by Chaundra Sewell. The group as a whole and which they performed as a whole was a tremendous performance.”

The Cowgirls ended their road trip last night in an 8 p.m. tip-off against UC Irvine in Irvine, California.  Look in for results in Wednesday’s edition of The Branding Iron.

Email: Tyler Reese 

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With tradition and bragging rights on the line, Wyoming managed to pull off its first conference win.

The Cowboys pummeled Colorado State 44-0 in front of their home crowd at War Memorial Stadium; a rout that was Wyoming’s most lopsided victory in the 102-game history of the Border War.

Sophomore running back Alvester Alexander etched his place into Cowboy football lore, rushing for 147 yards and a school record five touchdowns.

“The coaches told me they were going to put it on my shoulders, so I needed to show them that I could carry that load,” Alexander said in the post-game press conference. “It was nice to have those big holes to run through. The offensive line practiced hard all week and then told me that they were going to block up front. They really did great.”

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Rivalry.

The venerated tradition of college football; a game between two celebrated foes, where emotions run high as the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, and where the significance of the matchup is transcended only by each team’s inexorable will to win.

All of the antecedent circumstances surrounding Saturday’s Border War matchup between Wyoming and Colorado State would seem to indicate a game of relative inconsequence.

The bowl aspirations of both teams fell along with the leaves weeks ago and have since been swept off in the November wind, leaving both teams with the barren realities of enormously disappointing seasons.

Wyoming (2-9, 0-7) is still winless in conference play this season, and the Cowboys were beaten handily by UNLV last Saturday–one week after falling 34-31 on the road to a previously winless New Mexico team.

The Rams (3-8, 2-5) were crushed 49-10 by BYU in their home finale last Saturday, and a once-proud Colorado State program, which appeared to be on the rise two years ago—after CSU won the 2008 New Mexico Bowl—now stares directly at the prospect of a second consecutive three-win season.

And yet, united by the frustrations of fruitless seasons and by the history and tradition of a rivalry more than one century deep, Wyoming and Colorado State will indubitably step onto the field of War Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon and play as intensely and as passionately as they have all season.

“It’s important because it’s our rivalry game and that makes it the most important game on our schedule,” Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen said in his Monday press conference. “It’ll always be the most important game on our schedule. It’s big to the people of the state of Wyoming, it’s big to everyone in our fanbase, our alumni and the kids in our program.”   

It’s perhaps of escalated importance to Colorado State, as the Rams still feel the sting of last season’s 17-16 defeat to Wyoming – a contest in which then-true freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels guided the Cowboys on a thrilling game-winning drive which culminated in a 33 yard Ian Watts field goal with 1:27 remaining.

Colorado State players, on the other hand, sat at home watching on television as Wyoming celebrated in jubilation, and the Rams could only have been thinking about what could have been if they would have stopped Carta-Samuels and spoiled the Cowboys’ bowl hopes. The Rams, doubtlessly, were thinking ahead to November for another shot at Wyoming.

Pete Thomas has turned some heads in the conference in his first season at the helm for the Rams, passing for 2,565 yards and 11 touchdowns, and although Thomas has been inconsistent at times—also throwing 12 interceptions—he is a formidable challenge for a Cowboy defense, which has been torched each of the previous three weeks.

On the other sideline, Carta-Samuels is still looking for a definitive performance in 2010, a season after winning MWC Freshman of the Year honors.

It isn’t that Carta-Samuels has struggled—he’s completed 59.1% of his passes—but the Cowboy offense has been stagnant for most of the season, and while Carta-Samuels hasn’t surpassed the 200 yard passing mark since week one, it’s in rivalry games where great players often rise to the occasion and etch their legacies definitively into the histories of a program. 

There’s no shortage of reasons to believe that players all over the field – wearing brown and gold and green and gold – will be up to the occasion on Saturday. 

It’s the final time outstanding senior contributors Chris Prosinski (366 career tackles, fourth all-time in Cowboy history), David Leonard (147), and Marcell Gipson will take the field as Cowboys.

It’s the opportunity to hoist the Bronze Boot in triumph and hold bragging rights over a fierce rival. 

It’s the Border War, and it’s still about as good as it gets for college football in November. 

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