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    Cowgirl hoopsters open season with a win, Cowboys suffer loss in opener

    Cowgirls knock off Chadron State Thursday:

    The Cowgirls played tremendous defense in their season-opening game, an 80-33 victory over Chadron State. Wyoming limited the Eagles to 27.5 percent (14-of-51) shooting from the field, forced 29 turnovers and collected 18 steals, which is tied for ninth-most steals in a game in school history.

    The Cowgirls also had 12 players see the court, in an effort for head coach Joe Legerski to find a solid rotation to start this season. Wyoming’s bench outscored Chadron State’s, 43-11. With the win, the Cowgirls move to 13-3 under Legerski in season-opening contests.

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    “With tonight’s game, I always look at when you schedule games, you’re trying to get information, let your team learn and find more things out about your team,” Legerski said. “When I look at this roster, we have four players with any sort of Division I playing experience. We have to be able to find some people.”

    Joining the four veterans Legerski referenced (seniors Bailee CottonMarta Gomez and Clara Tapia and junior Taylor Rusk), freshman Karla Erjavec started her first-career game, and is the first freshman to start for the Cowgirls since Rusk on Feb. 17, 2017 in a game against Boise State. Erjavec scored seven points, six steals, two rebounds and two assists in a solid all-around game.

    “I thought Karla played tremendous tonight,” Legerski said. “She plays real well what I call ‘center field’ in transition. She just sits back there, reads what’s happening and she makes plays. She came up with six steals and played very well.”

    Offensively, the Cowgirls were led by freshman Tereza Vitulova, who scored 14 points off the bench while collecting four rebounds. Freshman Alba Sanchez Ramos scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and Cotton and Gomez chipped in 11 points apiece, with Cotton corralling a game-high eight rebounds. Senior Clara Tapia directed the offense with five assists, as well. Senior Rachelle Tucker had a career night, scoring a career-high eight points with a career-best seven rebounds.

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    Junior Taylor Rusk opened the scoring with a deep three on the right wing, and Tapia found Cotton for a fast break layup on the next possession. Gomez hit a three, and Cotton converted an out-of-bounds play for a layup to take Wyoming’s game-opening run to 10-0 into the first media timeout. After four free throws and a Tucker jumper from the elbow, the Cowgirls owned a 16-0 lead before the Eagles finally got on the board at the 2:31 mark of the first quarter. Erjavec found the bottom of the net for the first time in her career, and then she found Tucker for a buzzer-beating layup, bringing the first-quarter score to 24-8.

    Rusk hit a three to open the scoring for the Cowgirls in the second quarter, in what started as a defensive quarter for both teams. The Eagles missed their first three shots and had a turnover, while the Cowgirls missed six of their first seven shots. A pair of Cotton free throws ended a nearly three-minute scoring drought to put UW up 29-10. Vitulova capped a 15-0 Cowgirl run to end the quarter with a turnaround hook shot, and Wyoming took a 39-10 lead into the halftime break.

    Gomez hit back-to-back threes to open the second half. After a Cotton free throw and an Erjavec triple, Chadron State called a timeout, trailing 49-10 to the Cowgirls. Tucker then converted the rare four-point play where she was fouled after making a basket while in the team was in the bonus. The Eagles’ first points of the half came at the 4:45 mark on a pair of free throws. Sanchez Ramos, junior Elisa Pilli and freshman Quinn Weidemann all earned their first points as a Cowgirl in the third quarter, and Wyoming took a 66-17 lead into the third quarter break.

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    Sanchez Ramos hit a jumper out of the break, and Pilli hit her second three of the night to sandwich a Chadron State and-one play. Freshman Tommi Olsonthen drained a free throw to open the scoring ledger on her career and put the Cowgirls up 72-20. The teams traded shots until a Vitulova jumper put the Cowgirls up by 50, leading 76-26. Sanchez Ramos halted a six-point Eagles run with a pair of free throws, and the game ended with an 80-33 victory for the Cowgirls.

    Wyoming shot 39.4 percent (28-of-71) from the field, 34.5 percent (10-of-29) from three and 77.8 percent (14-of-18) from the free throw line throughout the game. Chadron State was held to 27.5 percent (14-of-51) from the field, 0.0 percent (0-for-10) from three and 62.5 percent (5-of-8) from the line.

    The Cowgirls are back in action on Friday, Nov. 9, as the squad travels to Moraga, Calif., to face the Saint Mary’s Gaels. Action gets underway at 7:30 p.m. (MT), and links to a live stream and live stats

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    Cowboys fall to UC Santa Barbara Wednesday:

    The Wyoming Cowboy basketball team fell to UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday night in the season opener, dropping a 76-66 contest to the Gauchos at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, Wyo. Senior Justin James led the Pokes with 20 points and 11 rebounds for his eighth career double-double. UCSB shot 51 percent from the field for the night and shot 56 percent from the three-point line in the first half.

    “I thought the guys played gritty,” UW head coach Allen Edwardssaid.  “We had opportunities, but at the point where we had just a one-point deficit and we missed a free throw to tie it, after that we started gambling rather than continuing to play solid.”

    James did most of his damage in the second half with 17 points. He passed Marcus Bailey for 18th in career scoring, as he now has 1,375 points. James also added a team-high four assists and went 10-of-14 from the free throw line.

    “What I love about J.J. is while we know his ability to play against anyone, I like the way he has believed in this process with these new guys,” Edwards said.  “Obviously it was a blow losing (Hunter) Thompson in the middle, but I thought J.J. did a great job of rebounding the basketball.  He also led us in assists with four.  He didn’t shoot it particularly well tonight, especially from three.  But he’s special.”

    Redshirt freshman Hunter Thompson added 10 points in his first career game for Wyoming. He was 4-of-6 from the field on the night. He left the game in the second half with an injury, as he played 15 minutes for Wyoming. Sophomore Hunter Maldonado added 12 points with senior Nyaires Redding finishing his night with nine points. Junior Jake Hendricks added eight points and two assists off the Cowboy bench.

    “I’ve been high on Hunter (Thompson) because he can do a lot of different things,” Edwards said.  “He really knows how to play, has a good basketball IQ.  He can stretch a defense, with his ability to shoot on the perimeter.  He was making a difference before he went out.”

    The Pokes shot 36 percent from the field going 21-of-58 for the night. Wyoming was 5-of-29 from the three point line for 17 percent. UCSB was solid offensively in the second half shooting 52 percent and going 11-of-13 from the charity stripe.

    It was the Thompson show early for the Brown and Gold, as the Wyoming native scored the first five points of the game for the Cowboys with a fade-away bank shot and a three pointer. The run by Thompson gave Wyoming an early 5-2 lead.

    The Gauchos went on a 6-0 run to take a 8-5 lead five minutes into the half, as the Pokes went scoreless for nearly three minutes with the run being halted by a James layup. But UCSB followed that with back-to-back triples to make it a 14-7 game with just over 13 minutes left in the half.

    The Pokes used a 7-2 runn to make it a 17-17 contest with just under nine minutes in the first frame. Hendricks hit a three-pointer to spark the run for Wyoming, as it was his first career points. Maldonado helped the Cowboys build a 24-23 lead with six minutes left, as he scored seven-straight points for UW.

    The two teams battled with UC Santa Barbara taking the lead back at 32-31 with 2:26 left in the first half. The teams exchanged the lead after that with the Gauchos closing the half on a 6-0 run with all six points coming from JaQuori McLaughlin for a 39-35 lead into the half.

    UCSB was 5-of-9 from the three-point line in the first frame, as Wyoming struggled going 4-of-16 for 25 percent.

    The Gauchos opened the second half building their lead to nine points at 45-36 in the opening minutes of the second half. The Pokes cut the deficit to 47-44, as James and Redding led the Pokes to an 8-4 run.

    UCSB went on an 8-0 run to make it a 55-44 game with just under 13 minutes left in the contest. The Gauchos shot 54 percent from the field to that point in the half.

    Wyoming would not go away going on a 12-2 run led by Thompson and James to cut the deficit to one point at 57-56 with under nine minutes left. James and Thompson got into double-figures during that stretch of play.

    The Gauchos built that lead back to seven points at 69-62 with just over two minutes. The Pokes battled late, but couldn’t muster a comeback falling 76-66.

    UCSB was led by Oregon State transfer JaQuori McLaughlin with 17 points. Devearl Ramsey, a Nevada transfer added 14 points and six rebounds.

    The Cowboys return to action on Saturday heading to Pac-12 foe Oregon State for a Saturday afternoon matinee at 1 p.m. MT on the Pac-12 Network.

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