Cowgirls End Game on 17-0 Run to Stun Nevada

RENO, Nev., – It was a struggle all night on the offensive end for the Wyoming Cowgirls Saturday evening on the road at Nevada. However, in the end, the Brown & Gold stayed the course, stayed in the fight and battled for 40 minutes to pull out an amazing 45-42 come-from-behind win.

The Cowgirls held the Wolf Pack scoreless for the final 9:01 of the contest, ending the game on a 17-0 run.

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After Nevada came out and scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, the Cowgirls wouldn’t relinquish a point from there.

The comeback culminated on a corner 3-pointer from Malene Pedersen with 1:02 left to play, giving Wyoming its first lead since the first quarter. Pedersen accounted for eight points in the run, while Tess Barnes had five. Dickerson and Emily Mellema also scored in that stretch.

The game started the same way the entire first half went, with both teams playing strong defense. Wyoming had pair of brief leads in the first quarter, first on a pair of free throws from McKinley Dickerson, which made it 6-4 Cowgirls.

The second, after a Pedersen layup with just under four minutes left in the frame. UW would go scoreless the rest of the quarter and trailed 12-8 after one.

In the second, the Cowgirls’ offensive struggles continued. An Emily Mellema layup four minutes into the quarter, was the first points for Wyoming in the second. From there, the Wolf Pack would go on a run, pushing their lead up to 26-13. A corner 3-pointer from Mellema with nine seconds left in the half, gave the Cowgirls a much-needed bucket, as they trailed 26-16 going into halftime. UW shot just 5-of-25 in the first half.

Things started off the same way for the Brown & Gold to begin the third as Nevada built its lead up to as many as 16. Barnes provided a quick four-point run however, cutting the deficit to 32-20, forcing a Nevada timeout with 4:28 left in the third.

After the timeout, a Kati Ollilainen three-point play got the Cowgirls back within single digits. From there, the Wolf Pack would respond to go back up by 12 before another Mellema jumper before the buzzer brought the score down to 37-28 going into the game’s final 10 minutes.

In the fourth, the Cowgirls still trailed by nine points at the final media timeout with 4:54 remaining in the game. Out of the timeout is when Wyoming really found the spark, scoring 12 points the rest of the way.

A Barnes 3-pointer cut the deficit down to just two with 3:26 to go. After a Wyoming timeout, a turnaround jumper from Mellema knotted the score at 42-42 with under two left. Following a defensive stop, a corner 3-pointer from Pedersen gave the Cowgirls their first lead since the first quarter, forcing a Wolf Pack timeout with 49 seconds to go.

Following stops on both ends, Nevada called a timeout with just under 11 seconds to play and got a good look from three to tie it, but missed it short as Pedersen cleaned up the rebound and the win.

Despite shooting 7-of-12 from the floor and 3-for-5 from three in the fourth, the Cowgirls shot a season-low 31.4-percent (16-51) overall and 35.7-percent (5-14) from 3-point range. Nevada shot 16-of-43 (37.2-percent) from the field and went 3-for-8 from beyond-the-arc, missing its final four attempts from deep.

The Wolf Pack was plus-four on the glass, but the Cowgirls outscored Nevada 7-2 in second-chance points. Wyoming also outscored the Wolf Pack in the paint, 20-18 and had a huge, 16-6 advantage in points off turnovers. UW committed just nine turnovers in the win while Nevada had 16.

Barnes led all scorers and a balanced Wyoming attack with 13 on the night. Mellema and Pedersen scored 10 each while Dickerson and Ollilainen each had five. Ola Ustowska led the Cowgirls with three assists.

The Cowgirls will return home in their next contest, a 6:30 p.m., matchup with New Mexico Wednesday, Feb. 26.

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players