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Cowgirls earn hard-fought win over San Diego State

UW Cowgirl Emily Mellema holds her follow-through after a 3-pointer while teammates cheer behind her. (via Wyoming Cowgirl Basketball X)

LARAMIE, Wyo. — It was a battle all afternoon and a fight until the bitter end, but the Wyoming Cowgirls pulled out a 78–71 victory Saturday afternoon over San Diego State.

Wyoming got another 20-point performance from Allyson Fertig in the win, while Emily Mellema came up huge in the final minute. The Cowgirls also shot a season-high 54.2% from the floor.

“Hanging on for a win like that is one where we talk about our toughness,” head coach Heather Ezell said. “We put it on the line there at the end. It’s tough to get back-to-back stops but to be able to get a stop three times in a row like we did so that we could finish, that shows the true toughness of your team.”

Wyoming got the first eight points of the game with a strong start, forcing an early San Diego State timeout less than four minutes into the game. Following the timeout, the Aztecs got on the board with back-to-back 3-pointers to tighten things back up.

After SDSU cut the Cowgirl lead down to 10–9, a McKinley Dickerson 3-pointer and a three-point play from Malene Pedersen pushed the lead back up to 16–9.

San Diego State would counter again, and the UW lead was down to 20–17 after one.

The second quarter began with the Aztecs taking their first lead of the game, capitalizing on some sloppy ball-handling from the Cowgirls.

A Madi Symons 3-pointer ended the SDSU run momentarily, tying the game up at 23–23.

The hard-fought, back-and-forth action continued into the media timeout as UW clung to a 30–29 lead. Out of the timeout, the two resumed trading points the rest of the half as the game continued to feature high intensity on both ends of the court. The Aztecs got a tough driving layup to fall to beat the buzzer as things were tied at 38–38 going into halftime.

The second half began where the first half left off, with the two trading baskets as neither could claim control. The Cowgirls led by as many as three points a few times in the early minutes of the half, but the lead was just two for Wyoming, 53–51, at the first media timeout.

After the timeout, things remained tight, but after a Kati Ollilainen 3-pointer made it a four-point Cowgirl advantage at 56–52, a pair at the line from Fertig pushed the lead to six points. The two teams would each hit a pair at the free throw line for the only scoring the rest of the third; Wyoming took a 60–54 lead into the fourth.

A Dickerson putback to beat the shot clock and a Fertig layup made it a double-digit Cowgirl lead with about eight minutes left.

After an Aztec timeout, SDSU punched right back, cutting the deficit to six before a Mellema layup and a Wyoming free throw made it 67–58. The lead was down to 67–61 late in the game as the Aztecs kept fighting. San Diego State came out of a timeout and scored the next six points before two Mellema freebies halted the run.

After a Cowgirl steal, a Tess Barnes layup made it 71–65 with under two minutes left.

SDSU would get two free throws on its following possession, which was followed by an Aztec timeout with a minute and a half to go. After the timeout, Wyoming turned the ball over and missed two at the line before the Aztecs got a jumper in the lane to fall with about 52 seconds to go and the Cowgirls hanging onto a 71–69 edge.

Following a UW timeout, Mellema drained a corner 3-pointer to beat the shot clock and force a San Diego State timeout, with UW up 74–69 with 24 seconds remaining. On the next Aztec offensive possession, Mellema got her sixth steal and hit two at the charity stripe to all but ice the game for the Cowgirls.

Fertig led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting while also pulling down a team-best nine rebounds. Nine of Mellema’s 18 points came in the fourth quarter, as she hit four of her six shots and made nine at the free-throw line. Mellema also had five assists in addition to her season-high six thefts. Pedersen also finished in double figures with 13 in the win.


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