By Christian Lasher
The Wyoming Cowgirls continue to roll through the bracket of the WNIT.
With 38 points combined from Wyoming’s “Twin Towers,” Allyson Fertig and Marta Savic, the Cowgirls easily blew past the visiting South Dakota Coyotes 84-52.
Fertig finished the night with a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday night’s win.
Coming off the bench, Senior Forward Savic poured in 14 in the third-round tournament win as the Cowgirls outscored South Dakota 54-20 in the paint in front of 3,342 rabid fans.
Fertig talked about Wyoming’s dominance in the paint. “Our coaches prepared us for that. One of our assistants said we’ve got to be ready…they (South Dakota) don't have a lot of big post players so we need you and I think we just executed well.“
Head Coach Heather Ezell said, “We wanted to work through Allyson and Marta. They've (South Dakota) shown in the past against some other teams with good posts that they're gonna try and bring a double. So we wanted to see where it came from. At first they didn't bring anyone, that allowed us to make easy work of that. We really emphasized to Al and Marta to get to their spot."
Savic added, “Tonight I think we just kind of put our head down. We've been doing the same things we were doing all year, but I think we're doing them with more aggression. We were more confident in making those shots and we have been (confident) the past two games.”
This attitude came at a good time for the two in the paint. With Wyoming’s back court shooting just 33% from the 3-point line, the two top Wyoming scorers took over.
Savic on the relationship between her and Fertig. “The two of us just kind of look at each other and have a little nod to each other, we know what we gotta do.”
The Cowgirls shot 55% from the field in the win. Senior Guard McKinley Dickerson had another strong outing, scoring 12 points. In a game high 28 minutes on the floor, Junior Guard Emily Mellema added 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.
South Dakota Sophomore Forward Carley Dufney led the Coyotes with 24 points and 7 boards.
The Cowgirls next WNIT opponent is The University of Minnesota. The Golden Gophers come to the Arena-Auditorium Monday night at 6:30.
Fertig on the Golden Gophers, “I know they have some great players that are returning and so we've got to be prepared for that. And I'm just so, so excited that we get to play here again. It just shows how dedicated our fans are to come and to have the opportunity to come play at home again.”
The Cowgirls all say they hope to have another good crowd at the AA.
Savic adds, “That crowd just fires all of us up. They're part of the bench, they define what Wyoming is...they're the greatest fans out there."
“It's huge to have a crowd like that and the way they get into it, they're smart. They know when to get loud, they know when to get up, they know when teams are on the ropes and and we gotta, you know, just get one more stop and they help us get that. So I know they'll all come out on Monday night and support us again.” Ezell added.
The crowd will have a chance to help Fertig, Savic, and all the Cowgirls Monday in the Arena-Auditorium. The WNIT Great-8 game tips off at 6:30.
Comentários