(Las Vegas, NV) – Less than a week ago, the University of Wyoming women’s basketball team and Colorado State closed the regular season against one another in a closely-contested contest. The two met again in a quarterfinal matchup of the Mountain West Conference tournament Monday inside the Thomas & Mack Center.
Monday’s game played out similarly, however, this rendition had a different ending. The No. 6-seeded Rams used a strong fourth quarter to down the No. 3-seeded Cowgirls, 51-38, to advance to the semifinals.
Wyoming falls to 15-12 on the season. Colorado State improves to 20-10 and will battle No. 2-seeded New Mexico on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.
“You have to give credit to CSU,” Associate head coach Heather Ezell said. “They came out and they defended, there’s no doubt, in those last six minutes. We had good looks at the basket and just couldn’t get anything to fall. You feel like if one of those goes in, we start going and it starts rolling for us. But unfortunately none of them did.”
Colorado State closed the game on a 14-0 run. Conversely, Wyoming struggled from the field, only making one bucket in the fourth quarter.
It was a balanced first three quarters of scoring for the Cowgirls. Senior Tommi Olson led the way with 10 points, which included a pair of 3-pointers.
Junior McKinley Bradshaw added nine points and five rebounds. Freshman Emily Mellema and senior Alba Sanchez Ramos chipped in seven and six points, respectively, while Ramos led the team with 12 rebounds.
Wyoming finished the game connecting on 25 percent (15 of 60) of its field-goal attempts. That included a 20 percent (4 of 20) shooting night from 3-point land.
Colorado State shot 37.5 percent (18 of 48) from the floor and 45.5 percent (5 of 11) from deep. McKenna Hofschild led all scorers with 16 points for the Rams.
The first three quarters were nearly a stalemate. The Cowgirls balance was on full display during the opening 20 minutes, as seven different players scored the first 20 points. That helped Wyoming build a slight 23-22 halftime advantage.
The Rams tallied eight of the first 10 points of the second half, but the Cowgirls swiftly punched back. They closed with an 8-2 run to take a 35-32 lead into the final 10 minutes.