Cowgirls Travel to Kansas State for Second Round Matchup
* University of Wyoming press release
LARAMIE -- For just the third time in program history, the Wyoming Cowgirls will play a road Women’s NIT game as they travel to face Kansas State Tuesday at 5 p.m., Mountain Time.
Tuesday’s second round game will be broadcast live on ESPN-Plus and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.
ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming (23-10) enters the contest off the strength of a 75-41 win in the opening round over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The 34-point margin of victory is the second-highest for the Cowgirls in their WNIT history. With the win, UW improved to 20-9 all-time in the tournament.
Allyson Fertig led the Cowgirls with 17 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in the win over the Islanders. Two other Cowgirls finished in double figures as Tess Barnes and Malene Pedersen added 11 points each. Barnes, who scored in double figures for the second consecutive game, tied a career-high with three made 3-pointers. Emily Mellema and Quinn Weidemann added eight points each on the night while Ola Ustowska had a great all-around game, scoring five points, grabbing a career-high six rebounds and dished four assists.
The Wyoming bench scored 35 points in Friday’s victory.
For the season, Fertig still leads the Cowgirls in multiple categories, as the Wyoming native is averaging 13.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and two blocks per game in 2022-23. Two other Cowgirls, Weidemann and Pedersen, also are averaging in double-digit scoring this season at 11.2 and 10.9 points per game, respectively.
Weidemann leads Wyoming with 30 steals and 53 made 3-pointers this season while Pedersen is second on the squad with 80 assists, is averaging four boards per game and is shooting a team-best 87.6-percent at the free-throw line.
SCOUTING KANSAS STATE
Kansas State is led by First Team All-Big 12 guard, Gabby Gregory, who is averaging 18.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game this season. Gregory leads the Wildcats with 77 made 3-pointers in 2022-23 and 155 made free throws. Honorable Mention All-Big 12 performer, Serena Sundell is averaging nearly 14 points per game and a team-high 5.1 assists and 1.9 steals per contest.
Sundell also leads the team with 26 blocks this season. Jaelyn Glenn, who is the third Wildcat that averages in double-figure scoring, at 11.7 a contest, leads KSU with 5.6 boards per contest.
As a team, the Wildcats score nearly 71 points per game and allow 68 points per game, defensively. KSU shoots at just over 40-percent from the floor this season and 29-percent from 3-point range.
Wildcat opponents shoot the ball at a near-identical mark, 40.3-percent and make nearly 31-percent of their shots from beyond-the-arc. Kansas State opponents have out-rebounded the Wildcats at three boards per game in 2022-23 while KSU has committed 80 fewer turnovers on the year. The Wildcats have been impressive at home this season, registering a 14-4 mark inside Bramlage Coliseum.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST KANSAS STATE
Wyoming is 3-4 all-time against the Wildcats, having won the last two meetings. The Cowgirls and Kansas State met one previous time in the WNIT, a triple overtime victory for the Cowgirls in the semifinals of the 2007 tournament. UW is 0-3 all-time in Manhattan.
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