Cowgirls Shoot Their Way Past Air Force [VIDEOS]
Bailee Cotton had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wyoming Cowgirls to a hard-fought win over Air Force, 80-60, Wednesday night in Laramie.
Four other Cowgirls scored in double figures, as UW ran its win streak to four straight games. Marta Gomez scored 15 points, Sladjana Rakovic tied her career-high with 13 points, Taylor Rusk had 11, and Tereza Vitulova chipped in 10 points. For Cotton, it was her fifth double-double this season.
Wyoming (13-5, 6-3) shot 62.5 percent for the game. That tied the sixth best single-game mark in school history. In the first and fourth quarters, they made 75 percent and 76.9 percent of their shots from the floor, respectively.
It went back-and-forth in the first five minutes of the game. There were eight lead changes and the game was tied once. The Falcons led 12-11 after a jumper by Briana Autrey. The Cowgirls responded with a 25-4 run over the next seven minutes of game time. That put Wyoming in front 36-16 with 8:31 left in the half.
UW led 46-29 at halftime. Cotton had 17 points and five boards in the first half.
Air Force (8-14, 4-7) climbed back within 10 in the third quarter. A 9-2 run by the Falcons trimmed the Cowgirls lead down to 48-38 with 5:16 left in the period. Wyoming withstood the surge and had a 60-46 advantage entering the fourth. UW’s built their lead to 25 points with just under a minute left.
The Cowgirls finished with a season-high 27 assists on their 35 made field goals. Freshman Karla Erjavec dished out a career-high 10. Rusk added six. Wyoming also had a season-best 50 points in the paint and got 25 points off the bench. UW also had a 35-25 edge in rebounding.
The Falcons were led by Autrey with 21 points Kaelin Immel added 12 points. Air Force shot 43 percent from the field.
It’s now time for the first edition of the Border War. The Cowgirls head to Fort Collins to face the Colorado State Rams Saturday. The game time is set for 2 p.m.