Offensive Struggles Cost Wyoming at CSU

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Feb. 17, 2022) – The Colorado State defense bottled up the Wyoming Cowgirl offense Wednesday night in Fort Collins as the Cowgirls fell 56-45. Wyoming shot just 28-percent from the floor in the loss. A big third quarter from the Rams was the difference Wednesday night, outscoring the Cowgirls 24-12 in the frame.
The third quarter opened with Colorado State hitting 6-of-9 to begin and taking its biggest lead of the game to that point, 34-27 with 4:17 remaining in the third at the media timeout. After the timeout CSU continued to stay hot, ending the quarter shooting 10-of-16 from the floor and 4-for-6 from three. The Rams led 45-33 heading into the fourth. CSU hit 7-of-8 at one point in the frame to extend its lead to double digits.
After CSU got the first hoop of the game, the Cowgirls responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to take the early 6-2 lead. The Rams would respond with their own run though, scoring eight straight before a Tommi Olson 3-pointer ended the streak. CSU would lead 10-9 at the first quarter media timeout. Out of the break, it was a defensive slog as the only hoop the final 4:40 of the first was a CSU 3-pointer to beat the buzzer to push its lead to 13-9 after one. UW shot 11 first quarter 3-pointers.

Another Olson 3-pointer opened the second for the Cowgirls, but CSU would start finding its range from beyond-the-arc and extended the lead to 21-16 with 4:47 to play in the half. From there, Wyoming continued to struggle offensively in the quarter, but continued to play solid defense. Eventually, UW got a little bit of offense going as a layup from Allyson Fertig and a Quinn Weidemann 3-pointer tied things at 21-21 heading into halftime.
The Cowgirls shot just 24.1-percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes and went 5-of-17 from 3-point range. CSU, meanwhile, was held to 33.3-percent shooting but went 4-for-9 from beyond-the-arc in the first half.
The offense continued to stall for the Cowgirls in the fourth as CSU led by as many as 17 in the frame. UW would cut the deficit down to 10 a couple of times, but it was too little too late for the Cowgirls down the stretch.
Olson led the way with nine points in the loss while Fertig and Alba Sanchez Ramos added eight each. Fertig also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds on the night. Emily Mellema and Marta Savic had six each off the bench.
CSU (17-7, 8-6 MW) shot 40-percent on the night and hit 10-of-21 from 3-point range. The Rams also had a 9-0 advantage in points off turnovers and 16-6 in points in the paint. The six paint points are easily a season-low for UW.
Wyoming now gets to return home for its final three games of the regular season after a three-game road trip and five-of-6 overall away from Laramie. The Cowgirls are off for over a week and will next host conference-leading UNLV February 24 at 6:30 p.m.