Cowgirls Get Key Mountain West Win Over Bulldogs [VIDEOS]
Bailee Cotton and Taylor Rusk tied their career-highs with 19 points each to lead the Wyoming Cowgirls to a 74-57 victory over Fresno State Saturday in Laramie.
Wyoming shot 55 percent for the game. They shot 52 percent in the first half, but only led 35-28 at halftime. A 13-0 run to start the second half broke the game open for the Cowgirls. Their lead grew to 48-28, as they held the Bulldogs without a point until 3:40 in the third quarter.
Fresno State didn’t go away, as Candice White made three 3’s, plus another by Katelin Noyer kept the Bulldogs around, but they never got closer than 13 points the rest of the game.
Rusk went 7-10 from the field and 5-of-7 behind the arc. She added four assists. Cotton went 6-11 from the floor and added a career-high tying 12 rebounds. Liv Roberts contributed 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists. UW also finished with 22 assists on 27 field goals.
Wyoming (20-7, 13-3) topped 70 points in conference action for only the second time. The one previous time was 10 days ago at home versus San Diego State. This marks the ninth 20-win season for head coach Joe Legerski in his 15 seasons.
Fresno State (16-12, 11-6) shot 38 percent in the game. They were led by Jordanna Porter with 20 points. White added 15 points.
The lead changed hands twice early. It was 8-7 Cowgirls with 4:40 left in the first quarter. UW went on a 17-5 run and opened up a 25-12 advantage early in the second quarter. Fresno State got back in it with a 10-0 spurt and closed within 28-26 at the 3:46 mark. A basket by Natalie Baker, plus a three from Rusk pushed it out to 33-26. Cotton’s offensive rebound and put-back with seven seconds left in the half gave Wyoming the 35-28 edge at the break.
The Cowgirls tied their school record of 13 wins in the Mountain West set by last year’s team.
UW will have a chance to win their first conference title next week with wins over Air Force and Boise State. It would be the first since Wyoming captured the High Country Athletic Conference crown in the 1989-90 season. Wyoming went 24-8 overall and 9-1 in the league that year.
The Cowgirls play at Air Force Tuesday at 7 p.m.