LARAMIE, Wyo. — Tess Barnes played at an All-Mountain West first team level last Saturday.
The versatile 6-foot-2 guard scored a career-high 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting with four 3-pointers and was equally impressive on the defensive end, leading Wyoming to a 68–59 road victory over Fresno State.
Barnes’s brilliant performance on the offensive end freed up some space for Allyson Fertig to score 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting. The senior from Gisborne, Australia, also held the Bulldogs’ Mia Jacobs, who was averaging 17.2 points, to seven points in 3-for-12 shooting.
UW head coach Heather Ezell knows the Cowgirls are dangerous when Barnes is at her best.
“I hope that she sees that correlation, too,” Ezell said, “because when she’s playing like that, being aggressive, doing things on both ends for us, man, we’re really tough and our motion, our defense and everything seems to run a lot more smoothly.”
Barnes, who is averaging 11.7 points and four rebounds this season, is one of a handful of players who have raised their level of play over the last five games.
Ola Ustowska matched Barnes with four 3-pointers during UW’s blowout over South Dakota in Vermillion. Malene Pedersen matched Barnes with 16 points in the loss at Big East leading Creighton.
Kati Ollilainen had 11 points, five assists and no turnovers in her first career start in the conference opener against Utah State.
Fertig, who is averaging 18.1 points and 10.0 rebounds, will still be the focal point for opposing defenses. However, the Cowgirls are tough to scout with Barnes, Emily Mellema and other familiar cast members playing well.
“I think we’re all capable of stepping up and helping Al,” Barnes said. “I also think we’re capable of seeing for ourselves who is playing well, who is ready to go, whether it’s Mal, whether it’s Em, whether it’s off the bench. We’re all ready to play and I think that makes us hard to guard and helps Al as well.”
The Cowgirls face another road test against New Mexico on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Lobos are one of four remaining unbeaten teams in conference play, and swept UW last season.
Ezell’s non-conference schedule, which included five true road games, prepared her team for these moments.
“The Mountain West, you never know what to expect and every team is going to get after it, so you have to compete every game. I think our non-conference schedule set us up for that,” Barnes said. “You can’t hear anything in there [at the Pit] which is kind of hard. Otherwise, it’s a really fun game.”
During last year’s meeting in Albuquerque, UW led 51–48 after a 3 by Barnes at the end of the third quarter, but New Mexico outscored the visitors 20–10 over the final 10 minutes to win 68–51.
“We’ve got to keep them from getting to the spots they want to get to, and we’ve got to handle their pressure,” Ezell said. “Last year at their place they amped up the pressure in the second half and I thought it really bothered us. So, we must be able to handle that pressure and keep them off the free throw line.”
The Cowgirls return home to face San Diego State at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Arena-Auditorium.
