LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 4, 2024) - On Monday night, the third season for Wyoming Head Coach Heather Ezell tipped off in the Arena-Auditorium with regional rival Colorado.
The Buffaloes were fresh off a Sweet-16 appearance in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
After leading for over six minutes in the first quarter, Wyoming saw that lead dissipate as CU outscored them 20-10 in the third stanza to pull ahead for good, winning 56-50 in the opener for both squads.
Ezell stressed the importance of not having a quarter like that.
“CU’s pressure and rebounding ramped up and we had to take Allyson (Fertig) out with her 4th foul. We still came ready, but foul trouble and turnovers got us.”
On the turnover front, Wyoming finished the night with 19 turnovers.
“Right when we started to get rolling a turnover would happen.” Ezell said.
Wyoming Seniors Allyson Fertig and Emily Mellema sat for extensive minutes in the third quarter, each fouling four.
“We have to be aware that we can’t get ourselves in foul trouble.” Mellema added. “It sucks sitting there (on the bench) and not being able to do anything about it.”
Another issue from the home team?
Colorado out-rebounded Wyoming 45-34 in the win.
Ezell added, “We can clean up the turnovers and offensive rebounds. We can practice a hair more. We are a mature team. I think they will bounce back differently than (they did) last year.”
One bright spot for Wyoming’s defense? It held Colorado to 1-10 shooting from behind the three-point arc.
CU’s Lior Garzon led all scorers with 20 points. The next closest Buff had eight points.
“Only one player got into double digits and she did it by not hitting threes, that is exactly what our scout was. We knew what Garzon was capable of, we played her last year, so credit to her.”
Garzon transferred to Boulder from Oklahoma State this year.
Senior Guard Emily Mellema finished with eight points, five rebounds, two assists, four steals, and two blocked shots.
“We didn’t lose because of a lack of effort, we went out there and gave it our all. We talked a lot about learning a lot from these games. Hopefully this prepares us to go out and get a win against BYU.”
Fertig led all Cowgirls with 18 points in the loss. She added five rebounds on the night.
CU’s bench outscored the Cowgirls 15-2 in the game.
“We are two possessions away from a different ball game. We needed somebody else to show up and make a shot.”
Somebody has got to step up and knock down some tough shots in some tough situation and unfortunately, we came up a bit short...maybe (the bench) had a little 'bright eyes' kind of thing”
Colorado now leads the all-time series with the Cowgirls, 39-13.
The Cowgirls take to the road for game #2 to face BYU next Saturday, the 9th, in Provo, Utah.
Ezell added, “We beat them here last year, they’re gonna want revenge…we can’t have those away game woes we have had in the past, and we have to be ready to bring our energy and compete for 40 minutes. It doesn’t matter if it is here or there.”
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