Cowgirls Survive and Advance in WNIT [VIDEO]

Crunch time is when you want your best players to step up. That's exactly what happened Monday night, as Seniors Aubrey Vandiver and Hillary Carlson scored the 18 of the last 19 points in the Wyoming Cowgirls 75-71 victory over Oklahoma State Cowgirls in the Second Round of the WNIT at the Arena-Auditorium Monday night.

Wyoming (24-8) wasted a 16-point first half lead and trailed by four with 7:26 left. After they rallied to tie the game at 60, Vandiver made a driving lay-up at the 3:58 mark to give the Cowgirls the lead back. UW never trailed again. A Carlson three with 3:12 left pushed the gap to five. They made 8-of-12 free throws in the final 2:16 which secured the four-point win.

Oklahoma State (17-15) kept it close thanks to three 3's in the last 52 seconds.

Vandiver led the way with another double-double. She had 27 points and 10 rebounds, while playing all 40 minutes. Carlson finished with 19 points, while Bec Campigli and Chaundra Sewell each added 10.

Oklahoma State also had four players in double figures. Tiffany Bias led the way with 17 points. Vicky McIntyre scored 16, Kendra Suttles had 12 and Lindsey Keller 11.

Both teams hit 11 3-pointers, but a big difference was Wyoming went 18-of-24 at the free throw line, while O-S-U was only 4-of-5.

A slow start to the second half almost gave the game away. Oklahoma State scored the first nine points of the period and took their first lead since 18:00 left in the first half. That capped a 19-2 run over a seven minute stretch from the end of the first half into the second.

Then the battle ensued over the final 16 minutes, which featured eight lead changes and four ties.

Campigli came through with eight straight points midway through the second half after UW saw a 48-43 lead disappear. She hit two key 3's and added a pair of free throws. That's when Vandiver and Carlson took over.

Wyoming was hot early, as Vandiver and Randi Richardson both hit two early 3's. A 14-2 run helped the Cowgirls to their biggest lead at 33-17, before O-S-U made a late first half push and cut the UW lead to eight at half, 35-27.

The Cowgirls advance to the Third Round of the WNIT for the second straight year. They will host the University of Colorado Thursday night at the AA. Game time is set for 7 pm. You'll be able to listen to the game on KOWB Thursday night with coverage starting at 6:30 pm. Also, get updates from the game on Twitter by following KOWBRadio.

2011 WNIT updated bracket