by staff–5 Jan ’21
Despite getting a career-high 27 points from Alba Sanchez Ramos and making 15 3-pointers, tied for the third-most as a team for a single game in program history, it wasn’t enough for Wyoming to overcome Fresno State Monday night in Laramie, as the Cowgirls fell in another thriller with the Bulldogs, this time in overtime, 83-80.
Sanchez Ramos went 9-for-18 from the field overall, including a 5-for-8 night from 3-point range and a perfect 4-for-4 at the free-throw line to pour in her second 20-point effort of the season. The nine made field goals sets a new career-high for Sanchez Ramos while the five made 3-pointers ties her career-best. Sanchez Ramos also had a nice all-around game as she grabbed nine rebounds, a season high, to go along with four assists and a career-best three steals.
Wyoming (4-3, 2-2 MW) got out to a fast start in the loss Monday, scoring the first eight points of the game and led 20-9 after one quarter of play, thanks in large part to Sanchez Ramos’ 11 in the frame. In the second quarter however, the Bulldogs (4-4, 2-2 MW) would return the favor in the second and eventually took the lead, 32-31 with three minutes left to play in the half. An Ola Ustowska 3-pointer with under a minute left in the second put UW back in front 34-32, a score they would carry into halftime.
In the second half, the Cowgirls looked to have regained control of the game once again, leading by as many as eight, 49-41 with 5:29 left to play in the quarter, but FSU would again respond, closing the third on a 15-6 run and taking a 56-55 lead into the final period.
The fourth quarter brought about four ties and six lead changes as the two teams battled back-and-forth. Wyoming got out to an early advantage in the frame thanks to a Quinn Weidemann 3-pointer that made the score 63-59 Cowgirls with 7:28 left in the fourth. However, Fresno would take the lead back at 67-66 with 4:48 to play. After the two teams exchanged baskets over the next two minutes, Sanchez Ramos’ layup with 1:46 remaining, knotted the score at 71-71. Less than 30 seconds later, Hanna Cavinder would give the Bulldogs a 72-71 lead on a free throw, while Dagny Davidsdottir went 1-of-2 in her own trip to the line with 16 seconds left to tie the game at 72 all and send it into overtime.
In the extra frame, Fresno State was able to break open a 74-74 tie with under a minute to play thanks to back-to-back turnovers from the Cowgirls made it 78-76 with 28 seconds left to play. Sanchez Ramos would try to will the Cowgirls to victory, scoring five points in the final 13 seconds but FSU hit its free throws to ice the game and earn a split with UW in the series.
“I’ve got to give them credit,” said Head Coach Gerald Mattinson in his postgame comments.
“I think they made some tough plays, they made some extra plays. They kept attacking the basket, we tried everything but we let them get too deep, too close, too often and that’s what they do, they’re a good team.”
The Bulldogs shot well from the floor in the win, going 31-of-62 overall from the field and 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from 3-point range while hitting 13-of-17 at the charity stripe. Meanwhile, the Cowgirls were buoyed by their 15-of-31 performance from 3-point range but shot just 36.8 percent overall from the floor, including going just 13-for45 inside the arc.
Fresno State had a big advantage on the night in both points in the paint (42-22) and fast break points (21-2) while the Cowgirls enjoyed a 19-6 edge in second-chance points, thanks to grabbing 21 offensive rebounds, a season-high and out-rebounding the Bulldogs 49-32 on the night.
“I give Fresno credit, they came in and they played tough and made some tough plays and got the split,” said Mattinson.
Weidemann and Jaye Johnson had big nights in the loss for the Cowgirls. Weidemann scored 16 points and hit four 3-pointers while also dishing-out a career-high six assists and blocking a career-best two shots while Johnson also set a career mark in scoring, 12 while hitting 4-of-8 from 3-point land. Dagny Davidsdottir chipped in with seven points and pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds. Tommi Olson added six boards and six assists of her own in the loss.
Next up, the Cowgirls are off for a week before traveling to face Boise State in a pair of road contests January 11 and 13. Both games are set to tip at 2 p.m.
