Wyoming Looks To Avenge Losses Against The Aggies

Mid-week Mountain West Conference basketball has Wyoming taking on Utah State Wednesday night with Cowgirls at home and the Cowboys on the road.

The Wyoming Cowgirls host the Aggies at 6:30 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.

The Wyoming Cowboys are in Logan, UT to play Utah State at 7 p.m.

Both UW teams lost their first meeting last month against the Aggies with the Cowgirls falling, 50-42 in Logan, and the Pokes losing at home, 71-55.

Wyoming Cowgirls

Wyoming (14-5, 7-3) has gone a different direction since their loss last month at Utah State. After a home setback against New Mexico, the Cowgirls have won five straight. What’s been the key to success?

Head coach Joe Legerski says I think we’ve been sharing the basketball.

“We started trying to put the ball on the floor, maybe, at inopportune times. Now we’ve got back to moving the basketball, our motion has gotten better, and what you take a look at is we’re having a number of people score. Then, I think defensively, everybody’s stepped up with what they’ve been trying to do.”

In the first meeting, Wyoming struggled shooting the ball. They shot a season-low 33 percent from the field and a season-low 19 percent from deep. Senior Marta Gomez called it their worst game of the season.

“I just remember we couldn’t make anything. Like, nothing was going the right way. We messed up on things we usually don’t mess up, like breaking the press, playing our offense, and some small things on defense… It was like, let’s go, we need to get this going, and like, we just couldn’t get it going, like, never in the game.”

Now the Cowgirls are going for their sixth straight win tonight. Gomez is also the No. 1 three-point shooter in the country at 49.1 percent. She’s gone 52-of-106 beyond the arc this season.

Utah State (10-12, 5-6) comes to Laramie struggling with five straight losses in MW play. They lost at home to San Diego State, 56-54, last Saturday. Junior forward Shannon Dufficy leads the Aggies at 16.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game. She had 24 points and 14 boards in the first meeting.

Wyoming has won six of the last eight meetings games in the series, including three in a row in Laramie.

The game starts at 6:30 p.m. KOWB (AM 1290) will air the game live starting at 6 p.m.

Wyoming Cowboys

Wyoming (6-17, 2-8) is still looking for its first back-to-back wins in conference play, as they take on the Utah State Aggies in Logan tonight.

The Cowboys enter off a big win in the Border War over rival Colorado State last Saturday. They’ve picked it up offensively and have shot 47 percent from the field over the past four games.

This match-up features the top two scorers in the conference in Wyoming’s Justin James (20.7) and Utah State’s Sam Merrill (20.1). Merrill led the Aggies to a 71-55 victory over the Pokes in Laramie last month.

Cowboys’ head coach Allen Edwards said in the first meeting he felt his team played well for about 32-34 minutes of the game.

“I thought we got stifled offensively, and let up a little on the defensive end.”

Edwards added that they’ve been playing well throughout the year.

“Merrill is really good, but he has a really good supporting cast. The big kid (Neemias Queta) is just getting better. He makes a difference in what they do with his ability to protect the paint and has an ability to score. Then the kids (Brock) Miller is coming into his own, as well.”

Queta is averaging 10.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, and a league-leading 2.6 blocked shots per game. Miller contributes 9 points per game.

Wyoming is 17-19 all-time in Logan and won there last year, 85-77.

The game starts at 7 p.m. KCGY (FM 95.1) will carry the broadcast starting at 6:30 p.m.