Pedersen’s Decorated Career Comes to a Close in Sin City

LAS VEGAS, Nev., -- If you want to talk about the program's culture, look no further than No. 12.

Malene Pedersen is the poster child for Wyoming women's basketball.

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An emotional Heather Ezell said as much Saturday after the Cowgirls fell 60-53 to Front Range rival Air Force in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament, capping this season at 10-20 overall.

"Everything," the head coach said from behind the podium when asked what Pedersen means to this locker room. "She is exactly what we talk about, what Wyoming toughness is, what our program is built on."

Pedersen finished with a career-high 29 points, attempting to single-handedly keep her team's postseason hopes alive inside the Thomas and Mack Center. That has been the case for a majority of the year, the senior netting 17.2 points per game -- the second-highest mark in the league -- on a squad that finished dead last in scoring at just 55.4.

The 5-foot-11 Denmark product was the lone returning starter from one of the most-successful runs in program history.

Without the services of the conference's player of the year, Allyson Fertig, along with the likes of Emily Mellema, Tess Barnes, McKinley Dickerson and others, Pedersen found herself as the face of the Cowgirls.

She didn't disappoint, scoring in double figures in all 30 games, including nine of 20 or more.

"That's what I talked about in the locker room is, if she taught anything to our young players and showed them anything, it's that this is how hard you have to work," Ezell said. "This is how hard it should hurt when it doesn't go your way."

Despite trailing by as many as 11 with 7:50 remaining in the fourth quarter Pedersen cut that lead to just three after swishing a triple at the 3:01 mark. The Falcons answered with a 7-0 run and eventually cruised to the opening-round victory.

"We just talked about how we need to keep fighting," Pedersen said from the podium. "We are never giving up. It's in our culture. We need to be tough, so sometimes it's just one stop at the time and one score at a time, and we got back in the game.

"So, of course, we keep believing. We have to. We play all 40 minutes, and that's what we're going to do."

Pedersen netted 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting in that final frame. She was 4-for-4 at the free-throw line. She only came off the floor for a grand total of two minutes all afternoon.

The Kansas State transfer leaves Laramie as one of the most-decorated players to ever wear the brown and gold.

After being named the Mountain West Freshman of the Year during the 2022-23 campaign -- she was named the rookie of the week five times that winter -- Pedersen landed on the all-tournament team twice and over the last two seasons has been named a first team all-conference selection.

"She left everything on the court. There's no doubt about it," Ezell said. "She's going to be hurting tomorrow just physically because she was all over the court, diving, whatever it might be.

"That's how hard you have to play. That's the epitome of Cowgirl toughness right there, in everything that she does."