Tuesday night the Cowgirls faced off against San Diego State University (SDSU) in San Diego for their last game of the regular season. They hoped to come out with a win in order to have a chance at the number two seed for the Mountain West Tournament, but fell short. They lost in the last three minutes of the game with a final score of 55-58.
Wyoming was up for almost all four quarters, dominating over the Aztecs and even going up by double digits. The Cowgirls shot 49 percent from the floor while SDSU only shot 35.8 percent. But with a season-high of 20 turnovers for Wyoming and foul trouble towards the end of the game, San Diego was able to walk away with a win.
“I think we got a little tired mentally. And then when you're mentally tired, you're out of spots, you're not in the right spot, you're late on rotations, and when you're late, not good things happen. And in that case, we put them to the free throw line too many times," said head coach Heather Ezell in a post game interview.
Senior Ola Ustowaka finished the night with a game-high six assists and Junior Allyson Fertig got her third consecutive double-double. Scoring 19 points and getting 10 rebounds she finished the season strong.
Although the Cowgirls lost against SDSU they ended their season with an overall record of 16-13 and finished third in the Mountain West Conference, earning them the number three seed spot in the upcoming Mountain West Basketball Championship in Las Vegas. Coach Ezell hopes to look past this loss and focus on the tournament starting on March 10.
“I told the team just now we can't let this game, you know, define us and affect us for what's next. We gotta go into that tournament,” said Ezell. “We should be confident no matter who we're playing and we can't leave anything you know left for grabs.”
The Cowgirls earned a first-round bye meaning they will automatically advance to the second-round of the tournament. Wyoming will be playing the winner of the Boise State and Utah State first-round game on March 11.