by staff–7 Mar ’16
The Wyoming women’s basketball team (13-16 overall, 6-12 MW) had its season ended in the first round of the Mountain West Championships with a 62-44 loss against the San Diego State Aztecs (12-18 overall, 6-12 MW) on Monday afternoon.
“I thought San Diego State shot the ball extremely well, played well down the stretch with it being a 6-point ballgame going into the fourth quarter,” UW head coach Joe Legerski said. “I thought their composure really showed. They made big play after big play and we missed some opportunities. It seems that’s kind of been our year this year, there’s some opportunities there. To be able to come away with a victory in conference play, you have to take advantage of every opportunity you have. In fact, you’ve got to make some tough shots. That’s what San Diego State did, and give them great credit.
Senior Marquelle Dent led all Cowgirl scorers with 13 along with eight assists and two steals in her final game in a Wyoming uniform. She finished her career with 1,337 points, 514 assists and 181 steals in 117 games. Sophomore Liv Roberts followed with 12 points and a team high nine rebounds while sophomore Natalie Baker brought down seven rebounds and six points. UW shot 18-of-58 (.310) from the field and 4-of-20 (.200) from beyond the arc while committing 16 turnovers.
“I’m proud of what these Marquelle and Liv got accomplished not only today but throughout the year. Marquelle has really had to shoulder a great deal on this team, being the only senior, the only returning player that played. Every night out she had to step up and come through for us to stay competitive. I thought Liv showed that she’s an emerging star for this team. To have 12 points, 9 rebounds, basically we never took her off the court, and she played with extreme intensity throughout the game.”
San Diego State was led by sophomore McKynzie Fort with a game-high 17 points and four steals. Senior Deidra Smith added 13 points and seven boards while junior Arielle Bostick chipped in nine points and eight rebounds. The Aztecs shot 25-of-55 (.455) from the field and out rebounded the Cowgirls 39-34.
Out of the break, Wyoming used a 17-10 run to make it a two point contest, 41-39, with under three minutes in the third quarter. The Aztecs scored the final four points of the frame to take a 45-39 advantage. The Cowgirls shot 7-of-17 (.412) from the field for the quarter. Baker hit one of two free throws to begin the fourth making it 45-40. San Diego State followed that up with a 17-4 run to close out the game to earn the 62-44 victory.
It was tough going early for the Cowgirls to begin the game falling behind 10-4 while shooting 2-of-7 (.286) from the field through the first media timeout. San Diego State scored 9 of 15 points to end the quarter taking a 19-10 advantage. Fort scored 10 of 19 points for the Aztecs while Dent and Roberts were the only two players to score for UW. A small run from Wyoming closed the deficit to six, 22-16, which was quickly answered by San Diego State to push the lead back to double-digits, 26-16. The teams combined for 11 points the rest of the way with San Diego State taking a 31-22 lead into the locker room.
Dent led the Cowgirls in scoring with nine points and three assists. Roberts followed with eight points and a team-high six rebounds. Wyoming shot 9-of-28 (.321) from the field, 1-of-9 (.111) from the field and committed nine turnovers. San Diego State was led by Fort with ten points followed by Smith with seven and Bostick with six. The Aztecs shot 14-of-30 (.467) from the field and out rebounded UW 18-17.
