Cowgirls Triumph on Senior Night Over UNLV
courtesy photo
Wyoming’s 14th MW victory sets a program record for conference wins in a single season
LARAMIE, Wyo. (March 5, 2025) – It was another classic battle Wednesday night between the Wyoming Cowgirls and UNLV Lady Rebels. In the end, the Cowgirls were able to string together an impressive fourth quarter, pulling out a 71-66 win on Senior Night. It marks the third time in the last four games that the Cowgirls have come back to win after trailing at halftime.
Wyoming got the first seven points of the contest to jump out early in the contest. The run continued to open the game as the Cowgirls led 11-3 less than four minutes into the evening. UW led 16-7 at the first media timeout as its hot start continued. Out of the timeout, an Emily Mellema 3-pointer brought the lead up to a double-digit Cowgirl advantage. UNLV would counter right back though, as the UW lead was down to just 22-16 after one.
The Lady Rebels came out fast to begin the second quarter, like UW did to open the game as UNLV would surge in front before a Malene Pedersen 3-pointer quickly reclaimed the lead for the Cowgirls, 25-24. At the media timeout, UNLV was back in front, 30-25. Following the timeout, the Lady Rebel strangle hold on the quarter remained, as they pushed their lead up to 32-25. From there however, Wyoming would claw its way back with a trio of 3-pointers as UNLV carried just a 36-34 lead into the half.
Pedersen scored the first four points of the second half to put the Cowgirls back in front. From there, the two teams would start exchanging makes back-and-forth as Wyoming led 48-45 at the media timeout. After the timeout, the Lady Rebels would fight right back in front, controlling the rest of the frame and taking a 51-49 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Cowgirls again opened a quarter strong, scoring the first six points of the fourth to claim the lead back briefly. After an Allyson Fertig layup made it 59-54 in favor of Wyoming, it called a timeout with 5:24 remaining. Out of the timeout, like it did all night, UNLV would respond back. After the Cowgirls went up by six, the Lady Rebels would cut the deficit to just one. From there though, a Pedersen pull up jumper and a Mellema three-point play on consecutive possessions made it 67-61 Wyoming with one minute to play.
After a putback layup from UNLV, it would call a timeout with 48.7 seconds to go. On the next possession, the Cowgirls would turn the ball over, leading to a pair of misses from the Lady Rebels. UNLV would foul after Wyoming was able to corral the defensive rebound as Pedersen went to the line and knocked a pair down. Following another timeout, the Brown & Gold would get another stop and Fertig would pull down her 19th rebound of the night. UW would follow that with another at the line before the Lady Rebels would drill a deep 3-pointer, but it was too late as the Cowgirls would hang on after advancing the ball with a timeout.
“That’s what it really came down to, to send those seniors out that way,” said Heather Ezell postgame.
“No matter who the team was, that’s what you wanted to do for them. I was really happy with the way that we came out. We withstood some runs that they had and then we made our runs.”
“What an atmosphere tonight. Shout out to all the fans that came out tonight. What a fun basketball game that was.”
Pedersen closed the night with a career-high 27 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including a career-best 5-for-9 from 3-point range. Mellema had 17 and six boards in the win while Fertig logged her 12th double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and grabbing those 19 boards. Fertig also had three blocks in the win. Tess Barnes and Mckinley Dickerson led the way with five assists each on their Senior Night. Ola Ustowska, meanwhile, had four and no turnovers in her final home game at UW.
Wyoming shot an even 50-percent (25-50) on the night and buried 12-of-24 from 3-point range. UNLV shot 40.3-percent (25-62) and made 7-of-20 from beyond-the-arc. The Lady Rebels enjoyed a 14-8 advantage in second-chance points, despite being outrebounded on the night. UNLV also had 30 points in the paint to the Cowgirls’ 26. Both teams scored 12 points off turnovers. Wyoming had 20 assists in the win.
With the win, the Cowgirls have won 20-plus contests in a season for the second time in three seasons under Ezell. The 14 conference victories are the most for UW in a single season in program history.
Now, it’s time for postseason play as the Cowgirls set their sights on the Mountain West Championship in Las Vegas next weekend. Wyoming, who will be the No. 2 seed at the tournament, will play the winner of Air Force and Utah State at 6 p.m., Mountain Time Monday, March 10.