The Wyoming Cowgirls finally get their 2020-21 season started Saturday afternoon as UW welcomes Denver to the Arena-Auditorium for a 2 p.m., contest to begin year two of the Gerald Mattinson Era at Wyoming.
Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network and can be heard across the 25 stations on the Cowgirl Radio Network. Keith Kelley will be on the call for the game, his first season as the Voice of Cowgirl Basketball.
A Look at the Cowgirls
The Cowgirls return three starts from last season’s 17-12 squad that finished 12-6 in Mountain West play and made a trip to the Mountain West Tournament semifinals before losing to eventual tournament champ, Boise State.
Alba Sanchez Ramos and Quinn Weidemann started in all 29 games last season for the Cowgirls while Tommi Olson also returns, having started the final 11 games of the last year. Weidemann is the leading returning scorer for the Cowgirls, having averaged 10.2 points per game last season. Weidemann was second on the team last year with 30 steals and also led the squad with an 87.8 free-throw percentage in 2019-20. Olson was second on the team last season with 72 assists (2.5 per game) while leading the way with 36 steals. Sanchez Ramos averaged 7.2 points per game last season while finishing second on the Cowgirls with 4.9 rebounds per game.
Other returners to the team include McKinley Bradshaw, Emily Buchanan, Jaye Johnson and Paige Toomer (Powell) while eight new Cowgirls join the team for 2020-21. Transfers Dagny Davidsdottir (Niagara) and Iris Tsafara (South Florida) join this season’s UW squad while freshmen Lexi Bull, Grace Ellis, Landri Hudson, Paula Salazar, Marta Savic and Ola Ustowska begin their first collegiate seasons.
Scouting Denver
Denver enters the Cowgirls’ 2020-21 season opener having played two contests already, splitting those two games to begin the year. The Pioneers opened the season with a 72-56 victory over Mountain West opponent Air Force and taking a one-point loss, 75-74 to Northern Colorado Tuesday. Saturday will be the Pioneers’ third consecutive game to open the season.
Sophomore guard Meghan Boyd has led the DU offense through the first two games, averaging 24.5 points per contest on the young season. Boyd has shot 50 percent overall from the field and 45 percent (9-of-20) from 3-point range. Boyd is second on the team averaging 6.5 rebounds per game and three assists per. Tsimba Malonga is third on the team averaging 11.8 points per and leads the Pioneers with eight rebounds per game this season. Uju Ezeudu is second on the squad averaging 13.5 points per game.
Denver has averaged 73 points per game through two games in 2020-21 and is shooting 42.1 percent from the floor while holding opponents to 65.5 points and under 37 percent from the field. DU is out-rebounding opponents by three per contest (42-39) and has averaged 14.5 turnovers per contest.
The Pioneers are led by first-year head coach Doshia Woods.
Series Against Denver
The Cowgirls lead the all-time series with the Pioneers, 23-5 and are 15-1 all-time at home against Denver. Last season, the Pioneers defeated UW in Denver 71-57, snapping a seven-game winning streak in the series for the Cowgirls. Saturday will be the 14th-straight season the two programs will meet in the series, dating back to 2007. The series with Denver began back in the 1973-74 season. Wyoming’s largest margin of victory in the series is 41, an 82-41 victory back in 2014.
Up Next
The Cowgirls will play their second and final non-conference home game Tuesday, December 8 as they welcome nationally-ranked Gonzaga to Laramie for a 6:30 p.m., contest.