Cowgirl Toughness on Display in Win Over San Diego State

Wyoming wins slugfest with Aztecs thanks to team effort 

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Jan. 11, 2025) – It was a battle all afternoon and a fight until the bitter end, but the Wyoming Cowgirls pulled out a 78-71 victory Saturday afternoon over San Diego State. Wyoming got another 20-point performance from Allyson Fertig in the win, while Emily Mellema came up huge in the final minute. The Cowgirls also shot a season-high 54.2-percent from the floor.

“Hanging on for a win like that is one where we talk about our toughness,” said Head Coach Heather Ezell postgame.

“We put it on the line there at the end. It’s tough to get back-to-back stops but to be able to get a stop three times in a row like we did, so that we could finish, that shows the true toughness of your team.”

Wyoming got the first eight points of the game as it got out to a nice start, forcing a San Diego State timeout less than four minutes into the game. Following the timeout, the Aztecs would get on the board with back-to-back 3-pointers to tighten things back up. After SDSU cut the Cowgirl lead down to 10-9, a McKinley Dickerson 3-pointer and a three-point play from Malene Pedersen pushed the lead back up to 16-9. San Diego State would counter again, and the UW lead was down to 20-17 after one.

The second quarter began with the Aztecs taking their first lead of the game as the Cowgirls were sloppy with the ball to begin the quarter. A Madi Symons 3-pointer ended the SDSU run momentarily, tying the game up at 23 apiece. The hard-fought, back-and-forth action continued into the media timeout as UW clung to a 30-29 lead. Out of the timeout, the two resumed trading points the rest of the half as the game continued to feature high intensity on both ends of the court. The Aztecs got a tough driving layup to fall to beat the buzzer as things were tied at 38-38 going into halftime.

The second half began where the first half left off, with the two trading baskets as neither could claim control. The Cowgirls led by as many as three points a few times before the media timeout, but the lead was just two for Wyoming, 53-51 at the timeout. After the timeout, things remained tight but after a Kati Ollilainen 3-pointer made it a four-point Cowgirl advantage, 56-52, a pair at the line from Fertig pushed the lead to six points. The two teams would each hit a pair at the free-throw line for the only scoring the rest of the third as Wyoming took a 60-54 lead into the fourth.

A Dickerson putback to beat the shot clock buzzer and a Fertig layup made it a double-digit Cowgirl lead with 8:15 left. After an Aztec timeout, SDSU would punch right back, cutting the deficit to six before a Mellema layup and a Wyoming free throw made it 67-58. The lead was down to 67-61 at the final media of the game as the Aztecs kept coming. San Diego State came out of the timeout and scored the next six points before two Mellema freebies halted the run. After a Cowgirl steal, a Tess Barnes layup made it 71-65 with under two minutes left.

SDSU would get two free throws on its following possession, which was followed by an Aztec timeout with 1:38 to go. After the timeout, Wyoming would turn the ball over and miss two at the line before the Aztecs would get a jumper in the lane to fall with 51.6 to go and the Cowgirls hanging onto a 71-69 edge. Following a UW timeout, Mellema would bury a corner 3-pointer to beat the shot clock and force a San Diego State timeout, trailing 74-69 with 24.2 remaining. On the next Aztec offensive possession, Mellema would get her sixth steal of the game and then hit two at the charity stripe to all but ice the game for the Cowgirls.

Fertig led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting while also pulling down a team-best nine rebounds. Nine of Mellema’s 18 points came in the fourth quarter as she hit four of her six shots and made nine at the free-throw line. Mellema also had five assists in addition to her season-high six thefts. Pedersen also finished in double figures with 13 in the win. The Cowgirls got 17 off the bench from Dickerson, Ollilainen and Symons. The trio combined to shoot 6-of-12 overall and made 3-of-5 from beyond-the-arc. Dickerson ended the day with four rebounds while Symons and Ollilainen had three and two assists, respectively.

The Cowgirls shot 26-of-48 from the field and hit 7-of-13 from 3-point range. SDSU hit 26-of-54 (48.1-percent) overall and made 5-of-13 from deep (38.5-percent). UW hit 19-of-26 (73-percent) at the line while the Aztecs went 14-for-18 (77.8-percent). San Diego State had an 18-17 edge in points off turnovers while the Cowgirls outscored the Aztecs 36-34 in the paint. SDSU also had a 10-6 edge in second-chance points. Overall, UW had a 28-26 margin in total rebounding.

Wyoming now shifts its focus to a Wednesday night contest as Nevada comes to Laramie for a 6:30 tip.