Fourth Quarter Dooms Cowgirls at Boise State

Wyoming stumbles in game’s final 10 minutes 

BOISE, Idaho (Feb. 18, 2025) – The Wyoming Cowgirls stumbled in the fourth quarter Tuesday night on the road as Boise State was able to rally for a 78-73 win. Wyoming, who led by nine going into the final quarter, scored just six fourth quarter points. The Cowgirls’ five-game winning streak was snapped with the loss. 

The two teams traded baskets to begin the game, especially for the Cowgirls and Allyson Fertig, as her seven early points helped give Wyoming an early 9-4 lead. The strong start continued from there for the Cowgirls, as they forced a Boise State timeout with 4:15 left in the quarter, as they built an 18-10 lead. After the timeout, the UW lead was briefly in double digits after a 3-pointer, but from there, the Broncos would cut the deficit down the rest of the quarter, as the Cowgirls went cold on the offensive end. Wyoming’s lead was down to 23-16 after one.

Both teams came out in the second, much like they did to begin the game, trading baskets back-and-forth. Neither team could miss to open the frame, as the Broncos would trim the lead down to 35-29 at the second quarter media timeout. Out of the timeout, Boise remained on fire as Wyoming struggled to get a stop and couldn’t get shots to fall. The Broncos would eventually tie the score at 40-40 before an Emily Mellema pull-up jumper to beat the buzzer, gave UW a 42-40 lead at the half.

The Cowgirls came out of the locker room disjointed as Boise State would surge out in front to begin the half. The lead would change hands a bunch before the media timeout as Wyoming took a 54-50 lead into the timeout. Following the media, the Cowgirl run continued as another Tess Barnes 3-pointer made it a 59-50 lead. After a Boise State response, Wyoming would counterpunch to end the third and took a 67-58 lead into the fourth quarter.

The offensive explosion of the first three quarters was gone to begin the fourth as UW went cold at the worst time. The Cowgirl lead was down to just 67-64 at the fourth quarter media timeout with the Broncos going to the free-throw line coming out of the break as they were getting every whistle in the frame. Following the timeout, the offensive woes continued for Wyoming as Boise took the lead with under three minutes to play. A pair at the free-throw line from Malene Pedersen would give the Cowgirls a brief and final lead on the night.

Boise State would hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions with under 90 seconds left to go back in front and seal the victory. Pedersen would get two more at the line to get the deficit to one, but on the following Boise trip, it hit two at the line of its own to go back up three. Wyoming would fail to score on its next possession, despite getting a couple of good looks from three. The Broncos would ice the game at the charity stripe from there.

Wyoming committed 21 turnovers in the loss, leading to a 26-14 points off turnovers advantage for Boise State. The Broncos also outscored the Cowgirls 40-28 in the paint. UW had a slight, 18-17 edge in second-chance points.

The Cowgirls shot 45.6-percent (26-57) from the floor and went just 1-of-11 in the fourth while shooting 8-for-22 from 3-point range. Boise, meanwhile, shot 46.8-percent (29-62) and made 4-of-8 from beyond-the-arc. The Broncos went 16-of-18 at the line while Wyoming was 13-for-15.

Mellema finished with 18 points on the night and went 7-of-13 from the floor. Pedersen had 16 in the contest and led Wyoming with five assists. Fertig and Mellema had four assists each. Fertig and Barnes scored 15 and 14 points, respectively with Barnes hitting four 3-pointers. Fertig, who’s 21-game streak of consecutive games shooting 50-percent-or-better, was snapped Tuesday, pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. With those 12 boards, Fertig surpasses Michele Hoppes (1984-87) for the program record for most career rebounds.

Up next, the Cowgirls look to bounce back as they stay on the road with a 7:30 p.m., Mountain contest Saturday at Nevada.