FRESNO, Calif. — Tess Barnes scored a career-high 24 points and the Wyoming Cowgirls used some timely 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to secure a 68–59 win at Fresno State on Saturday.
Allyson Fertig also went for 21 in the win, marking the second time this season that a pair of Cowgirls have each scored at least 20 in the same game.
Wyoming got out to an early 10–2 lead thanks to five layups in six possessions, forcing a Fresno State timeout just four minutes into the contest. Following the timeout, the Bulldogs cut into the Cowgirl lead to make it 14–11.
The rest of the quarter was controlled by Fertig, who scored 12 first-quarter points to help give her team a 22–13 lead through one.
A Barnes 3-pointer gave UW a 12-point advantage early in the second quarter at 27–15. From there, Fresno would respond and whittle the lead down to just 27–21 before another Barnes three ended the run.
The Fresno run continued for the rest of the half, and UW led 37–33 at halftime. Both teams shot the ball well in the first 20 minutes, with the Cowgirls hitting 65.4% from the floor to Fresno State’s 53.6%. Barnes had 15 first-half points.
Barnes opened the scoring in the second half with back-to-back layups. After a Fertig layup made it 43–35, Fresno called a timeout with about eight and a half minutes to go in the quarter.
Out of the timeout, a pair at the line from Fertig brought the advantage back to double digits for UW. The Bulldogs answered, however, to make it 45–39. The rest of the third saw Wyoming do most of its damage at the free-throw line, but a turnover with under 15 seconds left in the frame led to a Fresno layup and the Cowgirls led 50–46 going to the fourth.
The fourth began with the two teams trading buckets before a Barnes 3-pointer brought the score to 61–53 with under six to play, giving Barnes her career high.
After a stop on defense, Emily Mellema’s three made it 64–53 as the Bulldogs called a timeout with just over five minutes remaining.
In addition to pacing the team on offense, Barnes held Fresno State’s high-scoring Mia Jacobs to just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting and no 3-pointers. Jacobs entered the game second in the Mountain West, averaging nearly 18 points per game.
