By Christian Lasher
For the 4th time in as many games, the Wyoming Cowgirls dropped another contest on the hardwood. This time losing 59-58 to the visiting New Mexico Lobos.
Wyoming has lost by a total of 9 points in its last 3 outings.
Saturday’s game at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie was no exception. Trailing by one with 13 seconds left in the 4th, Wyoming had a chance to win the game. Tess Barnes’ three-point attempt from the corner fell just short to ensure the Lobos win and a 19-9 overall record. New Mexico is now 10-5 in the Mountain West Conference.
The win puts the Lobos into a tie with Boise State for 2nd place in the conference.
The Cowgirls drop to 14-12 overall with a 9-6 conference record. Wyoming is now tied for 3rd with San Diego State in the conference standings.
Wyoming Sophomore Guard Malene Petersen finished with a game-high 16 points.
“It’s tough, we came off and got them on the run in the beginning and they went on a run…we came out at half-time and really played well the second half but we just have got to be better finishing games. We saw that the last game against UNLV as well. We’ve just got to be able to be consistent and finish together in the end.”
The outside game of the Cowgirls has struggled as of late. Saturday’s game didn’t see much improvement from the outside. Wyoming made just 5 of 19 for 26% from behind the arc.
In their last outing, Wyoming had just 7 of 30 three-pointers fall for just over 23% in their 60-63 overtime loss against UNLV.
How is the ladies’ confidence right now from downtown?
“It could be better right now, it is so important for us individually to just believe in ourselves. I think we just need to get in our own heads and start focusing on we can make those shots. We do it at practice every day, so why not in the games as well?”
Head Coach Heather Ezell added,
“We keep talking about it, I don’t know personally, they knock them down in practice…we keep trying to build them up, we’ve been taking the right shots…at some point, we just gotta start knocking them down (in games.”)
Despite the struggles on the outside, Wyoming outscored the Lobos 38-20 in the paint.
Pedersen said, “We got a lot of good cuts (inside) and that worked out and we had a good start in the third quarter…we talked about that at halftime and we really executed.”
Going into the game, New Mexico was 17-0 when scoring 60 or more points and 12-2 when allowing fewer than 60 points. Their 59 points Saturday were enough to hold the Cowgirls at bay.
The Lobos were led by Nyah Wilson and Paula Reus with 11 points each.
With just three games left on the regular season slate and four straight losses for the Cowgirls, Pedersen stressed the importance of staying positive and playing as a team.
“We just really need to stick together. Games like last Wednesday and today can easily tear us apart and get into our heads individually. We need to really stay focused and end as good as we can.”
Ezell’s message going into the end of the season?
“We talk about finish. Finish these next three, go out on a high note so we can go into the tournament feeling good and go from there.”
The Cowgirls return to the court at San Jose State Wednesday the 28th at 2:00 PM.
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