Cowgirls Travel to Show Me State for Friday Meeting with Missouri State

Wyoming and Lady Bears meeting for first time

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Dec. 4, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirls continue their month-long stretch away from home with a trip to the Show Me State to face Missouri State Friday at 5:30 p.m., Mountain Time.

Friday’s game will be broadcast on ESPN Plus and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.

ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming (4-4) is coming off a 2-1 week down in Puerto Rico at the San Juan Shootout with victories over Drake and Virginia. With the win over Virginia, UW becomes the first Mountain West school to earn a victory over an ACC team since 2013. For her efforts during the week, Allyson Fertig received Mountain West Player of the Week honors for the fourth time in her career. Fertig averaged 19.7 points and 12.7 rebounds per game on 53.3-percent shooting during the week in Puerto Rico.

On the season, Fertig is averaging 18.5 points per game, which ranks second in the Mountain West while her 11.3 rebounds a contest leads the league and is seventh in the country. Fertig’s 41 total offensive rebounds are the third-most in the nation. It took her just eight games to reach 40-plus boards, the fewest games to reach that mark by a MW student-athlete in league history.

Emily Mellema, who grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds against UVA, is second on the team in scoring averaging 12.8 points per contest. Mellema also leads the Cowgirls with 26 assists and 16 steals this season. Mellema’s 3.3 assists per game ranks fifth in the conference while her 1.30 assist-to-turnover ratio and 2.0 steals per game, both rank eight in the league.

Malene Pedersen is also scoring in double figures for UW on the year, averaging 11.4 a contest. Pedersen is also second on the team with 19 assists and seven steals. Tess Barnes, meanwhile, leads the Cowgirls with 11 made 3-pointers, despite missing a pair of games on the young season. In the Nov. 30 victory over Virginia, Pedersen (23) and Fertig (22) became the first set of Cowgirl teammates to score 20-or-more points in the same game together since Barnes and Mellema accomplished the feat at CSU in February of last season.

SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE
Missouri State has a trio scoring in double figures this season. The Lady Bears are led by Lacy Stokes’ 13.1 points per game. Stokes also leads the team with 35 made free throws, 25 assists and 17 steals. Kyrah Daniels is averaging 12.1 point sper game and has a team-high 13 made 3-pointers. Sarah Linthacum is at 10.4 points a contest and leads Missouri State averaging 5.7 rebounds per game. Paige Rocca is second on the squad with 12 made 3-pointers and is hitting 46.2-percent from 3-point range while Kaemyn Bekemeier is at 50-percent shooting from beyond-the-arc.

The Lady Bears are scoring nearly 72 points per game this season and are allowing 73.3 per contest. Missouri State is shooting 41.7-percent from the floor and nearly 38-percent from beyond-the-arc. Opponents are shooting over 47-percent overall and 33.6-percent from 3-point range. The Lady Bears are nearly plus-six in rebounding margin and are averaging two assists per game more than their opponents. Missouri State is 1-0 in its lone home game this season.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST MISSOURI STATE
This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools.