Cowgirls face tough final week of regular season
UW plays at SDSU to start stretch of 3 games in 7 days
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Hugh Carey/WyoSports
Wyoming Forward Natalie Baker drives toward the basket while being guarded by Colorado State forward Amanda Kantzy during the game at the Arena-Auditorium on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 in Laramie.
LARAMIE - There isn't a single person involved with the University of Wyoming women's basketball program that will forget Dec. 30 and the ramifications of that night at home against San Diego State.
Late in the third quarter, Cowgirls senior Jordan Kelley went down with a knee injury that turned out to be a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear. Kelley's time with the Cowgirls was over, and going along with her was any realistic chances of UW competing for a conference title.
Wyoming (12-13 overall, 5-10 MW) lost 84-77 that night to the Aztecs and has gone 5-9 since.
But what Cowgirls coach Joe Legerski remembers most about the actual game was how easily SDSU ran its offense. The 84 points ties Utah State for the most scored against Wyoming this season. The Aztecs also scored over half of their points in the paint (44) while turning 18 Cowgirls turnovers into 17 points.
"They're perimeter players can really get after you, get to the basket and creates issues for you," Legerski said. "We have to be better as a unit with team defense. It's even magnified in this game. If we're left out playing one-on-one basketball it's going to be a long night."
SDSU's guards - sophomore McKynzie Fort and senior Ahjalee Harvey - combined to score 40 of the Aztecs' points and have been key contributors in the team's recent success. SDSU has won four straight in MW play after starting 1-9 to climb to eighth in the standings.
"Offense comes and goes, but if we don't play defense we can't stop them," UW junior guard Hailey Ligocki said. "We're definitely going to have to focus on that and focused on stopping the ball. They do a great job of driving with the basketball and we're going to have to find a way to stop that."
The Cowgirls are coming off a stretch where they played the top three teams in the conference fairly well. UW beat Boise State 82-58 on Feb. 13, lost 64-52 at Fresno State a week ago and dropped a tight 62-57 game to No. 25-ranked Colorado State on Saturday.
The three-game stretch may have proved to the team that it could compete with the elite of the conference. But it also showed UW that it takes 40 minutes to beat good teams, not a quarter or a half or even 35 minutes.
"We played really good defense against CSU," Cowgirls sophomore Liv Roberts said. "We answered just about every basket that they made and going into the fourth quarter we were really confident. Now we just have to find the way to make the plays at the end and come out with wins."
With three games in the next seven days - two being on the road - Wyoming likes its path headed toward the conference tournament.
"You're seeing a little more confidence in this group and you're seeing the freshmen and sophomores get better as the year goes on," Legerski said. "That's probably the biggest thing we needed, people to continue to get better."
