LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowgirls surged into the win column for the first time in 2024-25 behind the strength of a 69-57 win Wednesday night over Regis. The Cowgirls’ strong second and third quarters helped propel them to the win in front of the home crowd.

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The Cowgirls got off to a strong start right from the opening tip, scoring the game’s first eight points, with six coming from Malene Pedersen. Pedersen added another hoop with 5:44 left in the quarter to make it 10-2 in favor of Wyoming, forcing a Regis timeout. Out of the timeout, the Rangers cut the deficit down to 10-7 before the Cowgirls responded right back with three consecutive layups. Regis would trim the score down to just 16-14, however after that, heading into the second quarter.

The second quarter began with both teams trading hoops as the Cowgirls continued to punish inside. Wyoming’s first 22 points of the contest came in the paint. The Rangers would keep pace though, as UW led 26-25 at the second quarter media. After the media, the two teams both made a pair at the free-throw line before the Cowgirls again started crashing inside. Regis continued making tough shots the rest of the half as Wyoming did a lot of its damage at the free-throw line as it took a 39-29 lead into the half.

After Regis got the first two points of the second half, Emily Mellema would get the next seven for the Cowgirls to push the lead to 46-31, forcing a Ranger timeout with 7:07 left in the frame. Mellema would add to her personal run out of the timeout as UW led 50-33 once the game hit the media timeout. Wyoming’s lead was extended to 56-37 before Regis ended the third with a three-point play.

Allyson Fertig opened the fourth with an easy bucket off the feed from Ola Ustowska, but Regis responded with back-to-back hoops as it refused to go quietly. A Pedersen 3-pointer and an assist to Fertig got the Cowgirls back on track after that. The final 6:24 of the contest saw UW play its reserves to close things out. Wyoming led by as many as 19 later in the quarter before the Rangers went on a run late to make the final margin smaller.

Fertig led all scorers with her second consecutive 20-plus point game as she finished with 21 on 9-of-16 shooting to go along with seven boards and four blocks. It marked the fourth time in her career that Fertig has scored 20-or-more points in consecutive games.

Pedersen netted a season-best 17 on the night while Mellema also finished in double figures with 11. Ustowska led Wyoming with five assists in the win while Madi Symons’ team-best eight rebounds were a career-high for her. Logann Alvar, Heidur Karlsdottir and Payton Muma all scored their first-career points as Cowgirls on the night.

Wyoming shot 46.6-percent on the night and doubled-up the Rangers in points in the paint, 48-24. The Cowgirls also had a10-4 advantage in fast break points and a 13-10 edge in second-chance points. Both teams had 11 offensive rebounds while Wyoming enjoyed a plus-10 (44-34) advantage overall. Regis was held to just 32.3-percent from the floor but got up seven more shots thanks to 18 UW turnovers.

“I thought at times we played really well tonight, and we had good intensity,” said Heather Ezell postgame.

“Other times, I thought we relaxed a bit and started going through the motions and when we did that, not great things happened. I thought we did a better job tonight coming out of halftime focused. That was a big emphasis this week in practice. To see that, that’s a positive.”

Next up, the Brown & Gold will look to even up its overall record on the young season with a trip to face Gonzaga Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., Mountain Time.

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