Cowgirls hosting South Dakota in Super 16

Mar. 28—The University of Wyoming women's basketball team will host the University of South Dakota in the Super 16 round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament at 6:30 p.m. Friday inside the Arena-Auditorium.

The Coyotes bested Northern Arizona 79-65 on Tuesday to reach the game, while UW beat the University of Texas at San Antonio 80-64 last Sunday. The Cowgirls fell 71-55 against Kansas State in the second round of last season's WNIT.

"We're just getting to look at them and what they can throw at us," Cowgirs coach Heather Ezell said. "It comes down to what we've talked about; that is, they can throw a lot of things at us, but our principles should take care of that.

"(For us), it's more about how are they going to guard our motion? I think both teams have to do something different. (Allyson Fertig) or Marta (Savic) being able to bring a double front; whatever it may be, we have to be ready for what they can throw at us in that way."

Against the Lumberjacks, South Dakota made 27-of-28 (96%) free throws to gain the edge. Overall, the Coyotes shot 23-of-61 (37.7%) from the field and 6-of-21 (28.6%) from 3-point range.

The last seven months have shown UW many different looks, and the players feel they are prepared. The Cowgirls believe winning at this stage comes down to which team wants to keep competing with their teammates more.

The prep time for the Coyotes isn't much different from the regular season. UW gets two days of practice before tipoff similar to the Wednesday-Saturday game schedule in Mountain West conference play.

"The only difference in this year from last is the waiting game," Ezell said. "We didn't have to wait around as much, but our players are handling it well. We had a day off yesterday because rest is important.

"In late March, everyone's a little tired. The difference is being able to focus and take it one game at a time."

Against UTSA, not only did the team convert eight first-half 3-pointers, the Cowgirls assisted on 21 of their 28 (75%) field goals. Ezell feels like that is a tell-tale sign of running their offensive motion to perfection.

"I thought we really shared the ball," Ezell said. "We found people who were open, which means we were screening well. Being able to screen bodies, read cuts and execute means we are making the right passes."

The assists led to three Cowgirls scoring 16 or more points. Sophomore Malene Pedersen led the team with 24, followed by junior Allyson Fertig with 17 and senior McKinley Dickerson's 16.

"It makes us a harder team to play," Pedersen said after the game against UTSA. "It shows we're a very diverse team that all came ready to play."

Over the course of the season, UW has shown comfort in allowing different players to drive the bus offensively. Some of that comes from the familiarity of league play forcing other players to step up.

"This team is very selfless," Ezell said. "They know that with our motion, aside from Allyson and Marta inside, anybody can go off on any day. With the way teams want to guard us and the way we can change things up makes it (scoring) about finding who's hot that day."

Ezell was far from surprised by the scoring outburst from her team due to a promising week of practice that saw the Pokes knock down shots, make the right cuts and passes. However, the game wasn't a walk in the park and UW struggled to shoot the ball over the final two quarters.

The Cowgirls shot 12-of-29 (41.4%) in the second half, with just one additional 3-pointer. Ezell said she feels the team began to settle for the first open three they saw and failed to run the motion to its full potential.

"We got comfortable," Ezell said. "... Maybe not moving the ball as fast, maybe our feet weren't completely set, but I thought we started to settle, rather than look to work inside-outside."

For UW, the opportunity to play a team outside of the MW was refreshing. The team looks forward to having its full playbook at its disposal against South Dakota.

"With the playbook open again, (an opponent) is going to have to make an adjustment," Ezell said.

Added Pedersen: "It was a lot of fun. They didn't know our cuts or how to play our motion. Of course, we didn't know that, either, but it feels like such an advantage for us."

Austin Edmonds covers Laramie High, University of Wyoming and community athletics for WyoSports. He can be reached at aedmonds@wyosports.net. Follow him on X at @_austinedmonds.