Cowgirls Face Road Test at Creighton

Wyoming and Bluejays tip at 5 p.m., Mountain Tuesday 

OMAHA, Neb. (Dec. 16, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team closes its month away from home with a Tuesday night contest at Creighton. The Cowgirls and Bluejays tip at 5:00 Mountain Time from Sokol Arena in Omaha, Nebraska.

Tuesday’s contest will be broadcast live on FloSports College and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call. FloSports was the same streaming site the Cowgirls played on during their trip to Puerto Rico.

ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming (5-5) is coming off an impressive 79-45 victory at South Dakota Sunday. The Cowgirls led wire-to-wire in the rout and established multiple season-highs in the contest. Wyoming shot a season-best 54.5-percent from the floor against the Coyotes while shooting a season-high 53.8-percent from 3-point range, while making a 2024-high 14 3-pointers. Wyoming’s plus-34 margin of victory and plus-20 rebounding margin were both season-bests, as were the 23 assists dished out in the victory.

Five Cowgirls scored in double figures in the win and were led by Allyson Fertig’s 17. Tess Barnes, Emily Mellema and Ola Ustowska had 12 each while Kati Ollilainen had 10 off the bench. It marks the first time that Wyoming has had five student-athletes score 10-or-more points in the same game since last season’s WNIT game, which also came against South Dakota. The 12 points for Ustowska and 10 for Ollilainen were both season highs. Ustowska’s four 3-pointers made, tied a career-best for her.

Mellema had another great defensive outing against South Dakota’s Grace Larkins. Larkins came into the contest averaging 22.8 points and nearly six assists per game. Mellema held Larkins to 12 points on just 4-of-13 shooting in the Wyoming win and limited her to three assists.

On the season, Fertig’s 18 points and 10.9 rebounds per game rank second and first, respectively in the Mountain West. Barnes’ 1.9 3-pointers a contest ranks seventh in the league. Meanwhile, Mellema’s 1.30 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks sixth-best in the conference.

SCOUTING CREIGHTON
Creighton is led by two-time All-Big East performer Lauren Jensen, who is averaging just under 20 points per game and a team-leading 4.8 rebounds per contest. Jensen, who is shooting 50.7-percent from the floor and has a team-high 27 made 3-pointers on 44.3-percent shooting, also leads the Bluejays with 45 assists. Morgan Maly is second on the team averaging 16.6 points per game and has 25 made 3-pointers on 46.3-percent shooting from deep. Maly also leads Creighton with nine blocks. Molly Mogensen is second on the team with 42 assists and averaging 4.6 rebounds a contest.

The Bluejays are averaging just under 79 points per game and is allowing 66.6 a contest. Creighton is shooting 47.8-percent from the field and nearly 39-percent from beyond-the-arc. Bluejay opponents are shooting 44-percent overall and 32-percent from 3-point range. The Bluejays are even with their opponents in rebounding this season and are averaging over five assists better per contest. Creighton also commits three fewer turnovers per game. Creighton is receiving votes to be ranked in both main top-25 polls.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST CREIGHTON
Creighton leads the all-time series, 13-8 and has won each of the last six contests in the series. The Bluejays won last season’s meeting in Laramie, 73-61. Allyson Fertig scored a career-high 30 points in the loss. Wyoming is 1-7 all-time against Creighton in Omaha.