By Scott Nulph
WyoSports 

Cowgirls trying to find something that sticks

Wyoming has struggled since losing its 'glue player' to injury

 

February 3, 2016

Jeremy Martin/WyoSports

Cowgirls senior guard Jordan Kelley (22) holds her left knee after trying to rebound over San Diego State sophomore guard McKynzie Fort (15) Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015 at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie.

LARAMIE - The symmetry of what's happened to the University of Wyoming Cowgirls basketball program is both telling and not unexpected.

Wyoming went 7-3 in the first 10 games of the season and 3-7 over its last 10.

The difference? Having 5-foot-9 senior Jordan Kelley as opposed to not. Or as UW coach Joe Legerski might say, having your glue player in the lineup and not.

With Kelley, the Cowgirls were positioning themselves to be one of the top three or four teams in the Mountain West. Without Kelley, UW has lost four straight and six of its last seven to fall to ninth in the league standings at the midway point of the MW schedule.

"Over my years there's always someone who's the glue and the glue holds the group together and makes all the little plays and Jordan Kelley was the glue for this group," Legerski said. "People could turn to her to get a rebound, to get a basket. She gave us the energy that we needed. We're looking for someone else to become that glue.

"It's difficult because we're turning to young players for that."

The Cowgirls will look to snap their recent slump by hosting winless Air Force at 7 p.m. today at the Arena-Auditorium.

Any opponent is likely welcome after last week, where the Cowgirls (10-10 overall, 3-7 MW) lost back-to-back games to Fresno State and Colorado State, who have a combined record of 16-0 in MW play and a 23-game combined winning streak.

"You can't take any team lightly, but it's nice not to be playing the top two teams in the conference back-to-back," UW senior point guard Marquelle Dent said. "We know Air Force plays as hard as anyone in our conference and we can't take them lightly."

Wyoming knew it would be tough replacing Kelley's contributions.

The former Gillette standout averaged 10.5 points and 9.3 rebounds when she went down with an ACL tear on Dec. 30. But it's clear now that Kelley meant far more to the Cowgirls than just statistics.

"When someone goes down it's very difficult for someone else to play because now you have to produce," Legerski said. "When you step out on the court, people are looking to you to make baskets, grab rebounds, play defensively."

While sophomores Liv Roberts (10.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and Natalie Baker (7.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg) have answered that call along with Dent (17.4 ppg, 5.5 assists per game), the Cowgirls are still searching for others to step forward on a consistent basis.

"Marquelle's our only senior leader right now with playing experience," Legerski said. "The weight on her becomes greater. (Mistakes) we had the past couple of weeks have been made because they're looking for Marquelle and then we stand and watch.

"We talk to them about having to make the right basketball play and it's not always getting the ball to Marquelle. Those are the things we're trying to help them with."

Wyoming faces an Air Force team that is still looking for its first win in the 2015-16 season. The Falcons (0-20, 0-9 MW) changed coaches after last season with Chris Gobrecht taking over. Gobrecht has 542 career wins in a career that includes coaching Washington, Southern California and Florida State.

In the first meeting this season, the Cowgirls struggled with turnovers early at Air Force before pulling away in the second half for a 67-45 win.

"We need to come out and be the aggressor," Legerski said. "I thought when we went to the Academy, for the first three quarters Air Force was the aggressor. We stood around and watched. We have to change that mentality."

Injury update

Dent was noticeably limping late in Saturday's loss at Colorado State after trying to split two defenders.

The UW senior had X-rays on her leg on Monday and the results were negative.

Dent said she just "tweaked" her ankle and shin a little bit, but should be ready to play today.

 
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