Pedersen Reaches 1,000 Career Points as UW Rolls at SJSU

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Jan. 29, 2025) – Malene Pedersen became the 30^th member of the 1,000-Point Club in program history Wednesday night and scored 20 points for the third time this season as Wyoming rolled to a 77-64 win on the road. As a team, Wyoming blistered the nets in the first half, getting off to a hot start and didn't look back. The Cowgirls had five score in double figures in the win, the second time they've done that this season. UW led by as many as 24 points on the night.

After San Jose State opened the game with the first two baskets, the Cowgirls responded with the next 11 points to take the early lead, 11-4 at the first media timeout. The run continued for Wyoming out of the timeout as McKinley Dickerson drilled a 3-pointer out of the break. The UW run got up to as many as 16-0 before the Spartans broke through. Overall, the Wyoming run reached up to 23-2 over a 6:22 span in the quarter. The Cowgirls led 25-12 after one. Dickerson scored nine first quarter points off the bench.

Wyoming's strong offensive start remained to begin the second quarter as Tess Barnes and Emily Mellema hit back-to-back 3-pointers. After a Pedersen layup made it 35-17, SJSU called a timeout with 7:49 to play in the half. Following the timeout, the UW advantage reached 24 points as the hot shooting from the Cowgirls kept going. San Jose State got the final hoop to end the second, but Wyoming took a 50-28 lead into the locker room.

The Cowgirls assisted on 13 of their first 14 made field goals Wednesday and tallied 15 in the first 20 minutes, alone. Wyoming shot 66.7-percent from the floor and made 5-of-7 from beyond-the-arc in the first half. The Spartans shot 50-percent from the floor in the first two quarters but also committed 12 first half turnovers.

UW got the first hoop of the third quarter before the Spartans would go on a run to cut the deficit to down to 17. After a timeout from SJSU, the two teams traded buckets prior to the third quarter media timeout as Wyoming held a 56-37 lead. The Cowgirl offense continued its slower third quarter after the timeout as the San Jose State offense started to find its rhythm late in the frame, cutting the deficit down to just 13 points. A Kati Ollilainen driving layup with under three seconds left in the quarter gave UW a 63-48 lead going to the fourth. Pedersen reached the 1,000-point mark with a jumper in the lane late in the quarter.

A Pedersen layup began the scoring in the fourth quarter before back-to-back fastbreak layups from Allyson Fertig forced a Spartan timeout with 7:01 remaining and the Cowgirls leading 69-50. Out of the timeout, San Jose State continued to fight back, but a few Wyoming layups stemmed the tide late for the Cowgirls. After the lead got back up to 20, UW played its reserves the final three-plus minutes of the game.

Pedersen led the way with an even 20 on 10-of-14 shooting from the floor. Fertig finished with 16 points, eight boards and a pair of blocks while off the bench, Dickerson and Ollilainen scored 13 and 10, respectively. Barnes was the fifth for the Brown & Gold in double figures as she also had 10 points. Ola Ustowska tied her career-high with nine assists in the win as she reached that mark for the second consecutive game. Mellema closed with five assists and was disruptive on the defensive end, as she had three steals and a pair of blocks.

Wyoming shot 55-percent overall in the win, hit five 3-pointers and went 6-of-7 at the free-throw line. SJSU shot 44.6-percent and made 7-of-15 from beyond-the-arc. The Spartans had a 12-4 advantage in second-chance points as they had a plus-four rebounding margin. UW did its damage inside, outscoring SJSU 54-32 in points in the paint. The Cowgirls also had a 21-11 advantage in points off turnovers and led 15-6 on fastbreak points.

Up next, the Cowgirls welcome Boise State to the Arena-Auditorium for a 2 p.m., matchup Saturday.