FORT COLLINS, Colo. — During the University of Wyoming Cowgirls basketball team’s preseason media day, Allyson Fertig told Oil City News that one of her biggest goals for the season was to get her first win in Moby Arena, the Rams’ home turf.
“I’ve never won in Fort Collins at CSU. That’s my big goal. We’ve won here, but that’s a good rivalry game,” Fertig said.
The last time the Cowgirls won at CSU was in 2020 — until tonight. Riding off a huge second half, the Cowgirls stole the win 68–55. This win also means Wyoming is now second in conference standings.
The game started slow and defense-heavy — by the first media timeout, the score was only 3–2 in CSU’s favor. The Cowgirls couldn’t shake the sleep off of themselves before the Rams would pull up with two big three-pointers to take a big lead. Back-to-back layups by the Cowgirls’ top-scorers, Malene Pedersen and Allyson Fertig, would give Wyoming its first game lead before a Tess Barnes three ended the quarter 13–12.
The Rams would get the first two buckets to get up three before another Barnes three would tie it up again. Following that tie, the Rams took the lead again and ran away with it. That lead would swell to eight before Wyoming could climb back to within one by halftime.
Emily Mellema opened the half with her second three of the night and then immediately followed it up with a pull-up jumper. A Pedersen three would cap off an 8–0 for the Cowgirls that would put them up 40–33. The Cowgirls kept the energy up all the way to the fourth quarter and ended the third 53–45.
By the resumption of the game, the Cowgirls were dead-set on making this one theirs. Fertig would score a layup to take a double-digit lead and would do the exact same thing again when the Rams broke the lead back to nine.
CSU would attempt to manage possession time with fouls, but the Cowgirls got their free throws to fall. The game would end with a big block by Pedersen to seal the Rams’ fate.
Pedersen led the way scoring with 16 points, followed closely by Fertig, McKinley Dickerson and Mellema, who scored 14, 12 and 11, respectively. As is her specialty, Fertig had 17 total boards — three on offense and 14 on defense.
The Cowgirls will conclude their regular season at home against UNLV this Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. This game is the second of the team’s nationally televised games and will be available to watch on Fox Sports 1.
That will not be the end of the Cowgirls’ season, though, as they are very likely to make a deep run in the Mountain West Championship series coming up in Las Vegas, Nevada. To keep up with that, see the team’s page on the UW Athletics website.
