Wyoming

Wyoming Cowgirls improve to 4-0 in Mountain West play with 72-55 win over. San Diego State

Published

6 months ago

January 11, 2024

Wyoming Cowgirls improve to 4-0 in Mountain West play with 72-55 win over. San Diego State

LARAMIE – The Aztecs ran into the Wyoming wall.

Tess Barnes finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and four blocks and Allyson Fertig added 10 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks to lead UW to a 72-55 victory over San Diego State on Wednesday at the Arena-Auditorium.

Emily Mellema, who had 17 points and controlled the tempo during UW’s key road win at Air Force, added 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting.

The Cowgirls (9-6, 4-0) outscored the Aztecs (11-6, 2-2) 21-7 in the fourth quarter to remain unbeaten in Mountain West play.

“I think they ran out of gas a little bit towards the end,” said Barnes, who had five of UW’s 10 made 3-pointers. “It’s hard breathing up here.”

Barnes opened the fourth quarter with a 3 and then rejected a shot on the defensive end. The Cowgirls led by double digits (58-48) after baskets by Malene Pedersen and Fertig.

UW took its largest lead, 70-50, on another 3 by Barnes to put the exclamation point on a 12-0 run.

“I tell her we don’t really block shots around here,” UW head coach Heather Ezell said jokingly of Barnes. “I know she scored 17 points on the offensive end, but it comes down to she guarded for 34 (minutes), and we needed it every time she was down there guarding and being able to make stops on the defensive end.”

UW went on to defeat the Aztecs on Wednesday night at the Arena-Auditorium.

The Cowgirls led 18-14 at the end of the first quarter after freshman Maren McKenna scored the last four points of the frame for UW.

Both teams were shooting 50% from the field through 10 minutes. UW finished the game 31-for-59 (53%) while holding SDSU to 21-for-55 (38%) shooting.

Ezell credited Ola Ustowska, who did not score but finished with six assists and one turnover, for setting the tone on the defensive end.

“She defended her butt off,” Ezell said of the senior guard. “She was chasing around, making every catch tough and they couldn’t get into offense half the time because her man couldn’t get open. We really amped up that pressure and made it a battle down there.”

McKenna, who finished with nine points on 4-for-6 shooting, stayed hot with a 3 to open the second quarter to extend the lead, but the Aztecs responded with a 7-0 run to tie the score 21-21.

Barnes and McKinley Dickerson hit 3s, Pedersen made a floater in the lane and Mellema finished a 16-5 run that gave the Cowgirls a 39-28 halftime lead.

Khylee Pepe kept SDSU in the game with 10 first-half points on 4-for-6 shooting. The rest of her team had 18 points on 8-for-23 shooting.

Mellema buried a 3 early in the third quarter to make the score 42-30, but SDSU responded with a 10-0 run.

UW had a five-point lead and the final possession of the third quarter, but a turnover led to a layup by Adryana Quezada to get the Aztecs within 51-48.

“Heather talked about something we could carry over from Air Force was being composed,” Mellema said of the message from the coach entering the fourth quarter. “Being able to get those stops and taking care of it on offense by translating those stops into good points for us.”

The Cowgirls only allowed the Aztecs to make two field goals while making 9-of-13 shots on the other end in the fourth quarter.

UW finished with eight blocks as a team and cruised to the win despite not attempting a single free throw in the game.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever been a part of a game where we haven’t got to the free throw line,” said Ezell, whose team only committed seven turnovers and scored 20 points off nine SDSU turnovers. “Usually, an emphasis for us is trying to get there, but there never was a point where I was like, man, we need to get there to get points. We were finding other ways to score, which was good.”

The Cowgirls will have some extra time for prepare for its next game at New Mexico next Wednesday at the Pit.

Follow UW beat writer Ryan Thorburn on Twitter @By_RyanThorburn

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Wyoming

Former Wyoming Area football coach Paul Marranca to be honored | The Sunday Dispatch

Published

1 hour ago

July 7, 2024

Press Room

Former Wyoming Area football coach Paul Marranca to be honored | The Sunday Dispatch

WEST PITTSTON – Paul Marranca is a name that is synonymous with the Wyoming Area football program going as far back when he played on the very first team when the school district was formed in the fall of 1966.

After college, Marranca coached football under his mentor, legendary high school coach Jack Henzes at Dunmore High School, before making his way back to Wyoming Area to assume the head coaching job where he had a successful career.

Marranca over 27-years as a head coach, amassed a career record of 230-98-2 with a winning percentage of .703, was the 1980 PA Coach of the Year, a 12-time Wyoming Valley Conference Coach of the Year and a Big-33 coach in 2000.

When the Wyoming Area Football Alumni Association was formed, Marranca was onboard with Lou “Bikes” Ciampi over 25-years ago.

On Thursday, July 18, the Wyoming Area weight room, located across the street from the Anthony “Jake” Sobeski Football Stadium on Boston Ave., will be dedicated in Coach Marranca’s name and will forever be known as the Paul J. Marranca Performance Center.

According to Ciampi, the dedication will take place, open to the public, at the weight room parking lot at 4 p.m. followed by a cocktail reception at The Banks Waterfront Venue, Kennedy Blvd, Pittston, starting at 5 p.m.

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Wyoming

Wyoming Valley West honors senior award winners

Published

8 hours ago

July 7, 2024

Press Room

Wyoming Valley West honors senior award winners

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Wyoming

Tiny St. Alban’s Chapel In The Middle Of Nowhere… | Cowboy State Daily

Published

15 hours ago

July 6, 2024

Press Room

Tiny St. Alban’s Chapel In The Middle Of Nowhere… | Cowboy State Daily

Nestled in the Snowy Range Mountains sits a quiet mountain chapel.

With stunning views of the range and the Centennial Valley, St. Alban’s Chapel near Little Brooklyn Lake draws outdoor enthusiasts, engaged couples and parishioners of St. Matthew’s Cathedral to the site year after year.

“It’s this little chapel on a hill, but it overlooks the big vast valley,” said photographer Rick Osborne. “It’s just beautiful.”

One-of-A-Kind Wedding Venue

Osborne and his wife Stephanie of Ardent Photography photograph at least two or three weddings at the chapel every summer. He said it’s one of the couple’s favorite places to capture ceremonies in the Snowies.

“I think there’s not really anything that compares to St. Alban’s Chapel in that area,” Osborne said. “It’s unique in the fact that you can have your ceremony right there in the Snowies. You don’t have to bring in your own seating. It’s extremely affordable. And so I think that’s why it’s always so busy and booked out. It’s beautiful. It’s accommodating. It just kind of checks all those boxes.”

Sara Haugen decided St. Alban’s Chapel was the perfect spot for her mountain wedding after several hiking, camping and fly-fishing adventures in the Snowy Range with her future husband.

“I loved the idea of bringing our flatlander extended families into the mountains if they were already flying all the way to Wyoming,” she said. “My ceremony was July 13, 2013, and I’d say that’s about the earliest I’d recommend a wedding up there. Up until about a week before the wedding, there were still road drifts heading up to Little Brooklyn Lake. There are probably drifts up there right now that’ll be gone by next week.”

The morning of the ceremony the weather looked like it wasn’t going to cooperate, with black clouds hanging low over the peak. Haugen’s parents, who were there to set up early, were dealing with hail and rain around 11:30 a.m.

“Our ceremony was at 1 p.m., and by then it was sunny and blue skies opened up,” she said. “It was picture perfect, but I was mentally preparing to be soaked the whole time.”

Haugen said it was a dream wedding. The wooden benches were just enough for her 85 guests. And a harpist set up under the cover of the chapel, something that had always been on her wish list since she was a little girl.

“The ceremony was just beautiful, and the wildflowers were popping,” she said. “We still go visit St. Alban’s each summer around our anniversary, now with our two kiddos.”

Created As A Memorial

St. Alban’s Chapel was built in 1940 as a memorial to Lutie Stone by her son, Dr. Ferdinand Fairfax Stone, according to an informational pamphlet from St. Matthew’s. It was consecrated in 1941 in dedication to St. Alban.

The chapel’s name harkens back across the Atlantic to the grand Anglican St. Alban’s Cathedral in Hertfordshire, England, and is named after the country’s first Christian martyr of 304 A.D.

The authentic log structure of the open-air chapel reflects the skill involved in its hand-hewn log construction. This traditional Scandinavian craftsmanship was commonly used by work crews for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression.

The chapel’s log walls shelter the simple, hand-hewn lodgepole cross within the open window. The altar beneath the cross reflects the CCC skill of stone masonry, using the variegated hues of granite up on The Ridge — bold rose, delicate pinks, turquoise and crystal white, literally bringing the mountain to the altar.

The granite rocks of the altar have an inscription referring to Psalm 121, “I will lift mine eyes up unto the hills.”

The congregation of St. Matthew’s Cathedral gathers at the spot every summer from July through August for worship and invites others to, “Come experience peace and God’s blessings at this quiet, mountain chapel on the Brooklyn Lake Road.”

Peaceful, Beautiful Place

When David Vernon proposed to his wife in 1988 using the scoreboard at the University of Wyoming, they considered the chapel as a potential wedding location.

“We had both spent time in the Snowies and really like St. Alban’s as a location,” he said. “But our wedding was scheduled for Memorial Day weekend in 1988, and we were actually worried about snow still being up there and having to drag my grandparents through that, so we got married at Ivinson Mansion instead.”

However, St. Alban’s and Little Brooklyn Lake have always been beloved by the couple, and when they were last up there in July 2017 on a visit from their home in Illinois, the wildflowers were in full bloom.

“It was beautiful, but sadly we were surprised by how much pine beetle damage there was and how the trees were just so barren,” Vernon said. “It’s still a lovely place with a lovely view, and we miss the Snowies so much to this day. We’ll be back in southeastern Wyoming in September, and if we get up to the Snowies, we’ll definitely pay another visit to the little chapel on the hill.”

A few years ago Rose Brackett was also looking at possible wedding venues, and St. Alban’s was on her list. So she made a trip up in July 2022 and took a few photographs, which she shared on the Wyoming Through the Lens Facebook page.

“My then-fiancée and I had just gotten engaged, and I had been looking for unique wedding venues in the area, and I’d heard about that place, but I’d never been there, so I wanted to go and see what it was like in person,” she said.

She thought the location was perfect for a small ceremony with a rustic, Wyoming vibe. And while the couple didn’t end up getting married at the chapel because they decided to have the ceremony in October, she enjoyed being there so much she made a return trip later with her sister.

“It’s just a peaceful site — just the little chapel, then the wildflowers and down a little bit further there’s a lake,” she said. “It’s off the beaten path just a little bit. It was just a gorgeous view.”

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