Connect with us

Wyoming

Wyoming Cowgirls hold on for 66-63 win over Air Force Falcons

Published

on

Wyoming Cowgirls hold on for 66-63 win over Air Force Falcons


LARAMIE – The final shot of the game by the relentless visitors was an air ball.

And after 40 excruciating minutes the crowd of 2,333 at the Arena-Auditorium finally exhaled in unison.

Wyoming 66, Air Force 63.

After a wild sequence in the final 30 seconds, the Cowgirls (11-7, 6-1) escaped with a regular season sweep of the aggressive Falcons (9-11, 2-5) on Wednesday night.

Advertisement

Now the Cadets can make life miserable for other Mountain West teams.

“That’s what I’m thinking. Man, I’m glad we’re done with them,” UW head coach Heather Ezell said. “I don’t think their record does them justice. Being 2-5, that’s not a 2-5 team out there. That’s a team that’s going to compete and you’re going to see a lot more of Air Force through the second half of conference play.”

People are also reading…

Advertisement

The Cowgirls had a three-point lead and the basketball when Air Force forced a jump ball with 26.8 seconds left to take possession.

UW forced a missed 3-pointer but was unable to secure the rebound. During another mad scramble, Ola Ustowska was whistled for a foul with 18.5 seconds left.

The Falcons shooters were blanketed outside the arc on the ensuing possession, which ended with Keelie O’Hollaren’s desperation 3 coming up well short of the target.

“Definitely intense,” Malene Pedersen said of grinding out the win. “We really needed to just stay composed there and Coach really emphasized take it easy, we got this, be solid now and don’t let them shoot a 3 and don’t foul. It was hard, though.”

Advertisement

Air Force, which is now 0-33 all-time in Laramie, appeared to be on the verge of a historic road win for three quarters.

Then Allyson Fertig accidentally put the ball in the Falcons’ basket after a rebound slipped through her grasp and went in to give the visitors a 54-51 lead early in the fourth quarter.

UW’s 6-foot-4 center made up for the fluky miscue by scoring her team’s next four baskets to give the Cowgirls leads of 55-54, 57-56, 59-58 and 60-59.

“Ola and our other players did well just throwing it up there so I could go get it because we had the height advantage,” said Fertig, who scored 11 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter. “I thought they did a very good job of recognizing there was a height advantage there, and I just had to go get it and be strong with it because I knew three people were going to come crashing on me.”

Alexis Cortez completed a tough three-point play to tie the score 63-63.

Advertisement

Fertig made a free throw and then added another clutch field goal to extend the lead to three points with 44 seconds left.

The Cowgirls hung on tightly the rest of the way.

“It wasn’t the best game. We can all agree on that,” said Pedersen, who drew eight fouls and was 11-for-11 from the free-throw line with 15 points. “But at the end we found it again and stayed solid and were on the same page. I think it says a lot about our team and what we have to bring for each other.”

UW finished with 14 turnovers that led to 13 points for Air Force, which was forcing 19.5 turnovers per game on average.

Ustowska finished with seven assists with most of the dimes being dropped into Fertig during crunch time.

Advertisement

“I was so nervous,” Fertig said of the final moments. “It was just crazy with the jump ball calls and everything. So many emotions. I’m just glad we finally finished it.”

The Cowgirls were 4-for-13 (30.8%) from the field in the first quarter and trailed 20-6 after giving up a deep 3 to Alexis Cortez at the buzzer.

Air Force lead by five points on two occasions early in the second quarter before McKinley Dickerson finished a 9-0 run with a three-point play to give UW a 32-27 edge.

But the Falcons finished the half with a 7-0 run to take a 39-34 lead at the intermission. Milahnie Perry, who had 10 points in the first meeting, matched that total at the break.

Air Force shot 50% from the field through 20 minutes. UW stayed in range by making 14-of-16 free throws; Pedersen was 9-for-9 at the stripe.

Advertisement

The Falcons were 6-for-11 on 3s in the first half while the Cowgirls missed all six of their attempts.

Tess Barnes ended the drought from deep with back-to-back 3s to start the third quarter. Emily Mellema added another deep ball and then converted a steal into a layup to tie the score 47-47.

Taylor Britt hit a corner 3 at the horn to give Air Force a 52-51 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“The beginning of the game we were kind of like, oh, we’ve already beat them,” Fertig said. UW won the first meeting 68-51 victory on Jan. 6 at Clune Arena. “I think we relaxed and just weren’t very aggressive like we were at Air Force. In the second half our mindset changed to we have to be the aggressor, they’re not going away, they don’t back down, that’s just who they are, and we’ve got to step up ourselves.”

The Cowgirls will play at Fresno State at 2 p.m. Saturday before the first of two showdowns with UNLV on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas.

Advertisement

Follow UW beat writer Ryan Thorburn on Twitter @By_RyanThorburn



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Wyoming

Slick roads, snow hamper morning commute in southeast Wyoming

Published

on

Slick roads, snow hamper morning commute in southeast Wyoming


CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Drivers in Cheyenne and throughout southeast Wyoming face slick road conditions and falling snow this morning, with winter weather expected to impact travel throughout the day.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation reports high-impact conditions on several routes surrounding the capital city. Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 87 are slick with snowfall from the Colorado state line to Cheyenne. North of the city, drivers on I-25 will encounter slick spots, strong winds and blowing snow up to Exit 29 at Whitaker Road.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation’s road map showing conditions in southeast Wyoming at 6:30 a.m. (WYDOT map)

Travel on Interstate 80 and the Cheyenne Service Road is also affected. WYDOT lists conditions as slick with snow and limited visibility between Exit 335 at Buford and Exit 348 at Otto Road. Other local routes, including U.S. Highway 85 and Wyoming Highway 210, are reported as wet and slick in spots with snowfall.

According to the National Weather Service in Cheyenne, a round of light snow will continue to move through the area this morning. Most locations can expect a dusting to an inch of accumulation, though higher amounts are possible between Rawlins and Cheyenne.

Advertisement

Temperatures remain well below average for early December. The NWS forecast calls for a high near 27 degrees today, with wind chill values between zero and 10. Snow is expected to taper off by this afternoon as a cold front brings drier air into the region.

The cold will deepen overnight, with low temperatures dropping to around 10 and wind chills dipping as low as 5 below zero.

Looking ahead, the NWS predicts a sunny but breezy day Thursday, with westerly winds increasing to 20–25 mph and gusts as high as 35 mph. The long-term forecast calls for an active weather pattern, bringing periods of high winds and chances for light snow through the weekend, followed by a gradual warming trend into early next week.

Detailed Forecast

  • Today: A 40% chance of snow, mainly before 11 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. North wind 5–10 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
  • Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 10. Wind chill values between zero and 10. Southeast wind 5–10 mph becoming west after midnight.
  • Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 37. Wind chill values between minus 5 and 5. Breezy, with a west wind 10–15 mph increasing to 20–25 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.
  • Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 22. Breezy, with a west wind 20–25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.
  • Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 38. Breezy, with a west northwest wind 10–20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
  • Friday Night: A 20% chance of snow showers after 11 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 22.
  • Saturday: A 30% chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 40. Breezy.
  • Saturday Night: A chance of snow showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 22.
  • Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 41. Breezy.
  • Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 26.
  • Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 46. Breezy.
  • Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 28.
  • Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 50. Breezy.

More on the weather is available at the National Weather Service website.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Wyoming

Wyoming Troopers find kidnapped Wisconsin teen

Published

on

Wyoming Troopers find kidnapped Wisconsin teen


























Wyoming Troopers find kidnapped Wisconsin teen | News | wyomingnewsnow.tv

We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which
enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore access cannot be granted at this time.

For any issues, contact news@kgwn.tv or call 307-634-7755.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Wyoming

I moved my family to a tiny Wyoming town for 2 years to save money. Despite the drawbacks, our brief sacrifice paid off.

Published

on

I moved my family to a tiny Wyoming town for 2 years to save money. Despite the drawbacks, our brief sacrifice paid off.


The moment my wife and I finished earning our college degrees, we were ready to leave Utah.

We’d been living in Orem, a city with about 95,000 residents, while attending school nearby. Now that we weren’t tied down to the area, we wanted to move elsewhere — ideally, someplace cheaper.

I’d started working as a remote freelance writer, so we were flexible on location and interested in seeing where my modest income would stretch furthest.

Most of all, we wanted to live somewhere that would help us save for a down payment on our first home. Eventually, these goals led us to a tiny town in Wyoming.

Advertisement

Wyoming’s Bridger Valley offered lower rent, taxes, and gas prices


Author Christian Allred pushing stroller near grass

Moving to a smaller, more rural town was a great move financially, but it came with trade-offs.

Christian Allred



After learning about our moving plans, my wife’s aunt suggested looking in Bridger Valley, where she and her husband lived. We’re glad we did.

Located on the southwestern tip of Wyoming by the Utah border, the area had a lot of relatively affordable rentals, and we settled on an apartment in its small town of Mountain Valley.

Our rent was $650 a month — nearly half of what our existing lease would’ve renewed at for about the same living space. Both apartments were two-bedroom, one-bathroom units in a fourplex.

Advertisement

Over the next two years, we discovered other financial benefits of living in Wyoming, such as not having to pay a state income tax or sales tax on most groceries. Even gas was significantly cheaper here than it was in Orem.

As a result, we were able to save more of our income each month.

But living in a small Wyoming town also had its drawbacks

Mountain View has a population of just over 1,000, and many residents work at one of the nearby trona mines, making them a hardy group. I felt like an outlier as a remote worker, and I only met one other person who worked from home while we lived here.

Meanwhile, though we were only a two-hour drive from my wife’s family in Utah, it was far enough that we saw them much less — maybe five or six times a year.

Compared to Orem, there were also fewer amenities: We had a gas station, a grocery store, a bowling alley, a tiny library, a handful of restaurants, and little else. However, we didn’t mind much, especially since we made good friends at church and in the community.

Advertisement

The hardest part was the cold. Winter weather in the area basically lasts half the year, from about November to April, and temperatures regularly drop below freezing.

On occasion, the freeway connecting Mountain View to Utah was even closed due to dangerously icy road conditions. We stayed indoors a lot and missed Utah’s milder winters.

After 2 years, we’d saved enough to buy land in Washington, where we plan to build our first home


Author Christian Allred fishing

There’s a lot to like about small-town living, including how much we were able to save.

Christian Allred



Our move ultimately paid off.

Advertisement

During our time in Wyoming, we saved $20,000 to put toward just over an acre of land near my family in rural Washington.

Today, we own the land outright as we prepare to have our first home built on it. In the meantime, we’re living in my parents’ newly renovated ADU nearby.

Looking back, those cold Wyoming winters and quiet weekends were worth it. We traded convenience and proximity to family for financial breathing room — and in two years, that breathing room helped us buy real estate.

Plus, we came to love so much about remote small-town living, like its slower pace of life and the friends we made. For us, it was exactly the sacrifice we needed to make homeownership possible.

Advertisement





Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending