LARAMIE — The Mountain West women’s basketball schedule did the University of Wyoming Cowgirls basketball team no favors this year.

Not only do the Cowgirls get the last two byes of the regular season, but as it turned out Wyoming is the only team that will have to play the top three teams in the league back-to-back-to back — twice.

The first time through wasn’t very pretty with UW going 0-3 against Colorado State, Fresno State and Boise State while losing by an average of 12.3 points.

The second go-round, however, has started much better. Wyoming routed third-place Boise State 82-58 on Saturday, likely giving the team some needed confidence heading to second-place Fresno State for an 8 p.m. game on Wednesday.

The Cowgirls (12-11 overall, 5-8 MW) lost 49-42 to the Bulldogs (14-9, 10-2 MW) at the Arena-Auditorium on Jan. 27.

“I think we have a little more confidence knowing that we played Fresno close and probably should have come out with the ‘W’ in that one,” Cowgirls sophomore forward Liv Roberts said. “We have a lot of confidence, too, after beating Boise. That shows us we are a good team even though we are so young.”

At 5-8 in league play, the Cowgirls start the final five games of the regular season a game-and-a-half out of the fifth and final bye spot for the conference tournament. But there are also three teams between Wyoming and a first-round bye.

Cowgirls coach Joe Legerski said his team hasn’t focused on the standings at all this season, simply attempting to improve to the point where they could be a factor come the first week in March in Las Vegas.

“We played in a number of games this year where it’s come down to the last four or five minutes,” Legerski said. “We’re doing everything right to be in games. We just have to make a couple more plays to finish out some games. I’m hoping the confidence the team gained from Boise State will carry over to the last two weeks of the regular season.”

One of those games Legerski referred to was against Fresno State. The Cowgirls led for 23 of the 40 minutes against the Bulldogs — including by eight points with 4 minutes to go in the third quarter — but were outscored 18-9 in the final quarter.

“We would like to play a little faster, but the big thing is that we’re executing our plays against their zone and getting it done on the offense end,” UW senior point guard Marquelle Dent said. “We just need to make sure we come out with energy.”

Added Legerski: “We have to be able to find ways to be able to score. They’re very long in their zone defense and that creates a problem but we do have to be able to see the opportunities that exist for us.”