Cowgirls Host Former Mountain West Rival BYU Tuesday Night
* University of Wyoming press release
LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team hosts a former Mountain West rival Tuesday night in Laramie. Wyoming welcomes BYU to town for a 6:30 tip, inside the Arena-Auditorium.
Tuesday’s game will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.
ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming (3-2) will have a week off since the last time it played, a 78-32 victory over Chadron State last Tuesday in the annual Education Day game. The Cowgirls were impressive in the victory which came in front of 7,550 fans, a regular-season attendance record. Wyoming scored 54 points in the paint in the win, its most points inside in a game since scoring 56 in January of 2015 in a victory over San Jose State.
The Cowgirls’ first 24 points in the game, that didn’t come at the free-throw line, came in the paint against the Eagles. All 15 Cowgirls saw action in the win, with 12 scoring. Marta Savic led the way as she recorded her first-career double-double. Savic scored a career-best 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds while coming off the bench. The Cowgirls got 41 points from their reserves against Chadron and are now averaging 25.6 points per game from their bench. That mark is the third-best in the league currently.
Wyoming also shot 9-of-10 at the free-throw line in the win and is now shooting 87.7-percent as a team for the season. That mark is No. 1 in the nation as the Cowgirls have made 57-of-65 at the stripe. Allyson Fertig and Malene Pedersen lead UW with 11 freebies, each.
Through five games on the young season, Fertig leads the Cowgirls in scoring and is the only Cowgirl in double figures with an 11.8 point per game average. Pedersen and Tess Barnes are averaging 9.8 and nine points per, respectively. The duo also leads UW with 13 assists each in 2023-24. Emily Mellema checks in with eight points a contest, is second on the team with 11 assists and has a team-best seven steals on the year.
SCOUTING BYU
BYU comes to Laramie with a 6-0 mark overall this season but will be playing in just its second true road game of the season. The Cougars are potent on both ends of the court, averaging 72 points per game and allowing just 53.5 a contest. BYU is shooting 49.4-percent overall from the field and an incredible 44-percent from 3-point range. Opponents are shooting just 31.5-percent from the floor and are hitting under 27-percent from beyond-the-arc. BYU averages just under 44 boards per contest as a team while its 15.3 rebounding margin is top-10 in the nation. Through six games in 2023-24, the Cougars have turned the ball over more (112) than they have assisted (90).
The Cougars have four players averaging in double figures in scoring and are led by Kailey Woolston’s 17.2 points per game. Woolston is shooting a sensational 60.3-percent overall and 59-percent from 3-point range and has made 23 3-pointers, a mark which is top-15 in the NCAA. Lauren Gustin is second on the team scoring 15 points per game and leads the country averaging 15.7 rebounds per contest. Amari Whiting is third on the squad at 11.2 points per contest. Nani Falatea scored 11 points in her lone contest of the season, which came Saturday against LMU.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST BYU
The Cowgirls are 9-12 all-time in the series against BYU. Wyoming is 6-5 at home against the Cougars. BYU won the last four contests in the series, which regularly ended in 2011 when the Cougars left the Mountain West. The two programs met at least twice each season from 2003 to 2011.
POKES: The Seven Best Games In The History Of The Wyoming-CSU Border War Rivalry (Naturally, they were all Wyoming wins)
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