Cowgirls Begin Week on the Road Tuesday at Boise State

LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowgirls have a quick turnaround from their Saturday victory at home. The Cowgirls travel to face Boise State in a 6:30 p.m., contest Tuesday from ExtraMile Arena.

Get our free mobile app

Tuesday’s contest will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.

ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming (16-9, 10-3 MW) begins its tough final three weeks of the regular season, looking to extend its league-best five-game winning streak. The Cowgirls are coming off a 59-54 victory over San Jose State Saturday in the Arena-Auditorium.

Wyoming used a 14-1 run to begin the fourth quarter to help create some distance from the Spartans. SJSU made a run of its own in the final three-plus minutes of the game, to make the final score look much closer in the end.

Malene Pedersen led the way Saturday with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. It marks Pedersen’s fifth 20-point game of the season and fourth during league play. Pedersen is now up to ninth in the Mountain West in scoring in league play, averaging 15.2 points per game.

Pedersen is also second in the conference in field goal percentage to her teammate, Allyson Fertig, with a 55.5-percent mark from the floor. Fertig and Pedersen are the MW’s leading-scoring duo, as Fertig continues her dominance in league play. Fertig leads the conference in scoring (20.8), rebounding (10.6), blocks (2.2) and field goal shooting (62.2).

Fertig, who is just 10 rebounds shy of becoming the program’s all-time leader in career rebounding, is the only player in the country who is averaging at least 20 points per game and 60-percent shooting during conference play this season.

In addition to Fertig and Pedersen, Emily Mellema and Ola Ustowska have shone in MW action this season. Mellema leads the conference averaging 2.5 steals per game and is sixth in assists per game with 3.5 Ustowska, meanwhile, leads the Cowgirls and ranks fifth in league play averaging 3.8 assists per set. Ustowska’s 3.3 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks second in the league.

SCOUTING BOISE STATE
Boise State is looking to snap a five-game skid in Tuesday’s contest. The Broncos are led by Tatum Thompson and Natalie Pasco in scoring, averaging 12.6 and 12.4 points per game, respectively. Thompson also leads the team averaging 6.5 rebounds per game and in steals with 33.

Pasco, meanwhile, has a team-best 54 3-pointers on 41.5-percent shooting from beyond-the-arc. Two-time Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, Abby Muse, is averaging 6.3 rebounds per game and leads the league with 57 blocks on the season. Mary Kay Naro is one of the league’s top assisters, as she is averaging just over four a contest.

The Broncos score over 70 points per game on the season and are allowing 65.1 a contest. Boise State has a plus-1.5 rebounding margin and is shooting nearly 43-percent from the floor overall. The Broncos shoot the ball at 33.6-percent from 3-point range and are allowing just 30.4-percent from beyond-the-arc, defensively. Boise State opponents are shooting an even 40-percent overall.

The Broncos average 3.3 more assists per game than their opponents and commit nearly one fewer turnover per contest. As a team, Boise is shooting over 74-percent from the free-throw line.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST BOISE STATE
Boise State leads the all-time series with the Cowgirls, 20-17. Wyoming is in search of just its fourth win all time in Boise. The Cowgirls won the first matchup this season, 79-45 in Laramie. It was the largest margin-of-victory ever against the Broncos for UW.

FERTIG NAMED MW PLAYER OF THE WEEK

For the third time this season and the sixth overall in her career, Allyson Fertig has been named the Mountain West's Player of the Week, announced Monday by the league office. Fertig was also named the MW Player of the Week December 2 and January 27 this season.

For the week, Fertig averaged 24 points, 15.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game in Wyoming's two wins last week. Fertig, who shot 67.7-percent (21-31) from the floor in the wins over Air Force and San Jose State, recorded back-to-back double-doubles for the first time this season.

Fertig opened the week with 30 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks on 12-of-14 shooting against the Falcons. Saturday, Fertig scored 18 points and pulled down 16 boards in the victory over San Jose State.

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players