Wyoming
Cowgirls dominate South Dakota in wire-to-wire victory
VERMILLION, S.D. — The Wyoming Cowgirls took care of business against South Dakota with a great performance on both ends of the court Sunday, cruising to a 79-45 win.
The Cowgirls started the game by hitting each of their first two 3-point attempts to take an early lead. After an Emily Mellema three-point play, UW held an early 9-3 advantage.
Wyoming soon got up by double digits to lead 14-3, though the hot start was far from done Following a timeout, the lead got up to as many as 14 before South Dakota somewhat found its footing. The Cowgirls led 18-7 at the end of the opening quarter.
Mellema opened the second with back-to-back 3-pointers and the Wyoming lead surged to 24-9 with eight minutes left in the half, forcing a Coyote timeout. UW went up by 18 before USD started to find its range and cut the score down to 31-18.
However, the Cowgirls responded after that, continuing the hot shooting from the outside with back-to-back 3-pointers, going back up 37-18 with under two to play in the half. The lead ballooned from there, to 41-18 at the half.
The third quarter began with more hot outside shooting and strong defense from the Cowgirls as they built up a 55-20 advantage to open the half.
USD trimmed the lead down to 55-26 before Wyoming had yet another answer in the game. The Cowgirls closed the third on a 12-0 run and led 67-26 after three.
In the fourth, UW emptied the bench and played mostly just subs in the quarter. USD would outscore the Cowgirls in the frame to make the final score a bit more respectable.
Wyoming hit a season-best 14 3-pointers in the victory and shot nearly 54% from beyond the arc. South Dakota shot just 25.4% for the game.
Allyson Fertig led all scorers with 17 points in the win and was just one rebound shy of a second straight double-double. Tess Barnes, Mellema and Ola Ustowska all added 12 each and combined to shoot 11-for-15 from 3-point range.