Second Half Surge Leads Cowgirls Past CSU

First win in FoCo since 2020

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (March 1, 2025) – The Wyoming Cowgirls snapped a five-game losing streak in Fort Collins Saturday night as a tremendous second half from the Cowgirls led to a 68-55 come-from-behind win for Wyoming. It’s UW’s first win on the road in the Border War since February of 2020.

The two defenses showed up early as Wyoming turned the ball over three times in the game’s first five minutes and the Rams missed 5-of-6 shots. Colorado State led 3-2 at the first media timeout. Following the timeout, the Cowgirls’ outside shooting continued to struggle as CSU hit two early 3-pointers. UW took its first lead of the game, 10-8 after back-to-back layups from Malene Pedersen and Allyson Fertig. A Tess Barnes 3-pointer to beat the buzzer pushed the Cowgirls in front 13-12 after one.

CSU opened the second quarter with the first two buckets before another Barnes three tied things at 16-16. The Rams led 22-18 at the media timeout and were going to the free-throw line out of the break. The Colorado State lead ballooned to as many as eight points after the media. Wyoming would counter from there, trimming the deficit to just one, 31-30 on an Emily Mellema 3-pointer as the Cowgirls went on a nice run of their own before the break. A tough driving layup from Kati Ollilainen beat the buzzer as UW trailed 33-32 at the half.

After a Mellema 3-pointer opened the scoring in the second half, her pull up jumper on the next possession gave Wyoming a four-point lead. From there, a Pedersen 3-pointer with 7:11 left in the quarter, forced a Ram timeout as it was 40-33 in favor of the Cowgirls. UW remained in front by five at the media timeout. Out of the timeout, Wyoming struggled to get shots to fall but a three-point play from McKinley Dickerson pushed the lead to 45-37. The rest of the frame, the turnover bug came back to bite the Brown & Gold, but 3-pointers from Pedersen and Ollilainen helped give it a 53-45 lead going to the fourth.

Both teams opened the fourth with layups before neither team could get good looks to fall. After a Fertig layup gave the Cowgirls a double-digit lead, CSU called a timeout with 6:39 to go. Out of the timeout, the Rams would hit a 3-pointer before Fertig layups got it back up to 11 points. After another Colorado State three, Fertig would find a cutting Barnes to the hoop as the Cowgirls went up 63-53 with 2:13 to play as the Rams called another timeout.

Following the timeout, the Wyoming defense continued to put the clamps down as CSU had to start sending the Cowgirls to the free-throw line in the final minute. UW would make five free throws down the stretch to help salt away the win. Mellema’s second block of the night put the exclamation mark on the victory.

Pedersen led a balanced Cowgirl attack with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Pedersen also hit 2-of-4 from 3-point range. Fertig, who was double- and triple-teamed all night, finished with 14 points, 17 rebounds, two blocks and tied a career-high with five assists. Dickerson scored 12 off the bench while Mellema also closed in double figures with 11 points. Mellema also recorded a career-high three blocks in the win. Barnes had another solid all-around contest as she finished with eight points, four rebounds and had five assists.

The Cowgirls shot 49-percent (24-49) in the game and hit 8-of-22 from 3-point range. CSU shot just 34.5-percent (19-55) and went 7-of-21 from beyond-the-arc. Colorado State shot just 7-of-27 (26-percent) from the floor in the second half and went 3-of-12 from three.

Wyoming had a 28-20 advantage in points in the paint while Colorado State scored 14 points off turnovers to the Cowgirls’ seven. The Cowgirls also had a 7-2 advantage in second-chance points as it out-rebounded the Rams 40-24 in the contest. UW shot 12-of-14 at the free-throw line, including going 5-of-6 in the final 51 seconds.

Next up, it’s another big one for the Cowgirls to close the regular season. Wyoming welcomes four-time reigning Mountain West champion UNLV to Laramie for a nationally televised contest. The Cowgirls and Lady Rebels tip at 8:30 p.m., on Fox Sports 1.