by staff–4 Feb ’16
Five Cowgirls finished the night in double-figures as the Wyoming women’s basketball team (11-10 overall, 4-7 MW) snapped a four-game losing streak with an 84-56 win over the Air Force Falcons (0-21 overall, 0-10 MW) on Wednesday night in Laramie.
Freshman Marta Gomez paced the way for Wyoming with a game-high 19 points in 28 minutes of action. Senior Marquelle Dent recorded 14 points followed by sophomore Liv Roberts with 11. Junior Hailey Ligocki added 10 points as did sophomore Marleah Campbell had 10 points and a team high six rebounds off the bench. The Cowgirls shot a season-high 54.4 percent (31-of-57) from the field while recording 34 points in the paint and 28 points off the bench.
“In tonight’s game you can sum up that we shot the ball really well and defended to the point of what we wanted to accomplish,” UW head coach Joe Legerski said. “Marquelle got us off to a great start, scoring the first seven points of the game. I know how much pressure is placed upon her and to get off to that kind of start relaxes everyone. The big key for us throughout the night was our defense. We fronted on the post, had help on the backside and were able to rebound and push the basketball. It was also nice to get Marta (Gomez) going again. She played well, getting to the basket and doing different things. To have everyone have the opportunity to play in the game always helps.”
Air Force was led by Dee Bennett with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Sarah Fotsch and Sarah Cantu each added 12 points each. The Falcons shot 28.8 percent (19-of 66) from the field and 61.5 percent (16-of-26) from the free throw line.
Two quick scores out of the halftime break built the Cowgirl lead to 30, 48-18. The two teams played even the remainder of the quarter as Wyoming took a 64-31 advantage headed into the final frame. In the fourth, UW scored nine of the first 11 points of the four period to extend it to a 40 point lead, 73-43. Despite being outscored down the stretch, Wyoming went on to the 84-56 victory.
Wyoming opened up the game on a 16-2 run with Dent scoring seven of the points through the first media timeout. A basket by Bennett ended a three minute scoring drought for the Falcons. The Cowgirls closed out the quarter scoring 8 of 13 to take a 24-7 lead headed into the next period. It was low scoring through the first several minutes of the second quarter until a Gomez three sparked a 16-10 run to close out the half with the Cowgirls taking a 44-18 lead.
Gomez led all scorers with 16 and three rebounds followed by Dent and Campbell with ten each. Wyoming shot 17-26 (.654) on its way to a season-high 44 first half points. The Falcons were led by Bennett with six points and four rebounds, while Cantu added four points. Air Force was 5-of-27 (.185) from the field and 8-of-11 (.727) from the charity stripe.
The Cowgirls close out the week on the road against the Utah State Aggies. Game time is set for 2 p.m. MT in Logan.
