Feb. 23, 2008

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -

Box Score in PDF Format

The Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team (22-4 overall, 10-3 in the MWC) closed out their two-game road trip with a 88-78 victory over the UNLV Lady Rebels (8-17 overall, 4-8 in MWC) on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

"This is a difficult place to play in," said UW head coach Joe Legerski. "It's been a hard place for Wyoming to win at. Tonight, we had great senior leadership. Hanna and Justyna had 22 points, while Jodi added 19. This was a great way for us to close out this road trip."

Five Cowgirls finished the night in double-figures led by Justyna Podziemska and Hanna Zavecz. They each finished with 22 points, seven and eight rebounds respectively. Jodi Bolerjack added 19 points, Dominique Sisk had 11 and Aubrey Vandiver with ten.

Wyoming shot 57.1% from both the field (28-49) and beyond the three-point arc (12-21), as well as 71.4% (20-28) from the free throw line.

UNLV was led by Shamela Hampton with 23 points followed by Sequoia Holmes with 21. The Lady Rebels shot 27-64 (.422) from the field and 21-27 (.778) from the free throw line.

Wyoming jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before a three-point field goal by the Lady Rebels made the score 5-3. The Cowgirls responded with a 7-2 run to extend the lead to seven, 12-5, through the first media timeout. Podziemska would hit a three-point basket out of the break as UNLV finally broke a two-minute scoring to make the score 15-7. Another small run by UW extended the lead to double-figures 21-11 with just ten minutes to go in the half. The Lady Rebels chipped away at the lead with two baskets to make a six point game, 21-15. The Cowgirls struggled going almost four minutes before a Vandiver basket ended the drought. That would start a 6-2 run to give them a 12 point advantage, 29-17, with 3:55 left in the first half. The Lady Rebels continued to battle back by scoring nine of the next sixteen to pull within ten, 36-26.

At halftime, Podziemska and Vandiver led the way with ten points. They were followed by Sisk with eight points. Wyoming shot 14-26 (.538) from the field and 6-11 (.545) from beyond the arc.

Holmes led the way for the Lady Rebels at the break with 11, while Hampton added eight points. UNLV shot 11-31 (.355) from the field, while out rebounding the Cowgirls 21-13.

Wyoming started off the second half strong as they opened up with a 15-7 scoring run to extend the lead to 19 points, 56-37. The Lady Rebels came back with five unanswered to chip in to that lead 56-42, but the Cowgirls responded with a three-point play to get the lead back up to 17, 59-42. UNLV continued to battle back as they scored the next six of eight to inch closer to 13 points, 61-48. This time, Wyoming responded with seven straight to get the lead back up to 20 points, 68-48, with ten minutes to go in the game. Over the next several minutes, the two teams traded baskets as the Cowgirls continued to maintain their lead. With the score 77-57, the Lady Rebels went on a 8-1 run to cut in to the lead, 78-65, with 3:47 to go in the game. The scoring would be even the rest of the way as free throws down the stretch would seal the 88-78 victory.

The Cowgirls will be at home on Wednesday, February 27, against the Colorado State Rams. The game is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Arena Auditorium.