Cowgirls Host Chadron State in Friday Exhibition, Tip-off slated for 5:30 p.m.  

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 30, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team opens the 2024-25 season Friday night at 5:30 in an exhibition contest against Chadron State inside the Arena-Auditorium. Friday will be Wyoming’s only “warmup” contest before the season officially tips Monday, November 4.

Friday’s exhibition can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.

ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming will be entering its third season under Head Coach Heather Ezell. The Cowgirls, who finished third in the Mountain West a season ago and advanced to the Great 8 Round of the WNIT in 2023-24, returns all five starters from that squad. UW went 18-15 last season and was picked to finish second this season in the Preseason Mountain West Poll.

The Cowgirls return a pair of All-Mountain West performers from last season in Allyson Fertig and Emily Mellema. Fertig, who was named to the All-Mountain West Team for the second consecutive season in 2023-24, was named the league’s Preseason Co-Player of the Year earlier this month. Last season, Fertig averaged 14.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.64 blocks per game and set a school record with a 60.8-percent shooting percentage. Mellema, meanwhile, was named to the league’s All-Defensive Team last year after leading the Cowgirls with 43 steals. Mellema also led the way with 103 assists and ranked fifth in the Mountain West with a 1.75 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Wyoming also welcomes back starters Tess Barnes, Malene Pedersen and Ola Ustowska. Barnes averaged nearly nine points per game last season and led the team with 60 made 3-pointers. Pedersen’s 11 points per game ranked second-best on the squad. Pedersen shot 90-percent from the free-throw line. Ustowska led the Cowgirls in conference play with 64 assists and was second on the team with 97 assists in all games. Ustowska had eight games last season with five-plus assists.

Also returning to the squad for 2024-25 are McKinley Dickerson, a 2021-22 All-Mountain West honoree, Mikyn Hamlin, Joslin Igo, Kati Ollilainen and Madi Symons. The Cowgirls welcome in six newcomers this season, including four freshmen in Lana Beslic (Split, Croatia), Heidur Karlsdottir (Laugavellir, Iceland), Karoline Lundin (Copenhagen, Denmark) and Fia Proctor (Bothell, Wash.). Wyoming also has a pair of new transfer student-athletes, Logann Alvar (Casper College) and Payton Muma (Gonzaga).

SCOUTING CHADRON STATE
Chadron State went 6-20 a season ago and are picked to finish 13th in the Preseason RMAC Poll. The Eagles return four of their top five scorers from 2023-24, including leading scorer Ashayla Powers, who led CSU in scoring (12.3 PPG), rebounding (6.6 RPG) and steals (1.3 SPG) a season ago. Powers shot nearly 53-percent from the floor last year and also tallied 34 assists. Liberty Line Megan Counts (7.6) and Kylie Krise (7.5) were second and third, respectively, on the team in scoring last season and are both back for the Eagles in 2024-25.

As a team, Chadron State averaged just over 60 points per game and allowed opponents to score at a 70.3-point per game clip. The Eagles shot 41-percent from the field and hit 30.3-percent of their 3-pointers in 2023-24. CSC committed over 20 turnovers a game and fouled its opponents nearly 20 times per contest. Chadron will also play an exhibition contest at Montana State before officially starting the regular season November 9 against Wayne State.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST CHADRON STATE
Although Friday doesn’t count in the series record books, the Cowgirls are 14-0 all-time against Chadron State. Wyoming defeated the Eagles 78-32 last season in the annual Education Day game in front of over 7,500 fans inside the Arena-Auditorium.