Wyoming Basketball Set to Host Gauchos on Friday

Game is set for 7 p.m. MT in Laramie

LARAMIE – The Wyoming women’s basketball team will return home to face the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in a post-Thanksgiving match-up on Friday.

The game is set to begin at 7 p.m. MT. Live stats, audio and video can be found on the women’s basketball Gameday Central page located on the GoWyo.com website.

Wyoming is currently 2-1 overall on the young season after a thrilling 61-56 overtime victory against Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday night. Freshman Marta Gomez finished her night with 24 points, shooting 8-of-17 from the field in 40 minutes of play.

Marquelle Dent followed with 15 points and four assists in 45 minutes while Jordan Kelley ended the game one assist shy of a triple double with 12 points, 10 boards and nine assists. Wyoming shot 22-of-60 (.367) from the field and out rebounded the Titans 36-30.

Gomez currently leads all scorers averaging 18.7 points along with 4.3 rebounds per contest. Dent follows with 15.3 points and a team-high 5.7 assists, while Kelley has 10.7 rebounds per contest. UW is shooting 72-of-179 (.402) from the field and 23-66 (.348) from beyond the arc. The Cowgirls are also outscoring opponents 68.7-59.7 and out rebounding teams 38.3-30.7.

The Gauchos are 1-4 overall on the season. Makala Roper leads the way off the bench with 11.4 points followed by Jasmine Ware with 9.6 points. Kali Jones is leading the way with 6.4 rebounds. As a team, UCSB is averaging 51.6 points and 34.4 rebounds per contest.

This is the second meeting between the two teams. UCSB won the previous meeting 80-71 on January 12, 1985. The Gauchos are coached by Bonnie Henrickson who is in her first season with the program.

 

 

 

 

 

Cowgirls Rally Falls Short Against No. 12 Colorado State

LARAMIE – With the UniWyo Sports Complex at near capacity, the Cowgirl volleyball team showed its resiliency despite falling to No. 12 Colorado State on Tuesday night. The Rams took the match 3-2 (15-25, 20-25, 25-20, 27-25, 11-15) in front of 1,189 fans on senior night.

It was the first time CSU (25-3, 18-0 MW) had played five sets since Sept. 26 earlier this season against Boise State. The loss snapped Wyoming’s (23-7, 13-5 MW) current seven-match winning streak and 12-straight at home. It was the second-best home winning streak in the programs history and UW was one win away from it being the second time this season it had a stretch of eight-straight wins.

“I thought we competed very well. We had good swings all night and it was nice to see us put ourselves in a position to win this match and that hasn’t always been the case in this rivalry.” – UW head coach Chad Callihan.

After dropping to first two sets against Colorado State, the Cowgirls used stellar defensive play in the third and fourth set to send the match to the fifth and final frame. Reed Copeland led all players with 11 total blocks during the match. She and senior Kayla Henderson each had five in the third set for the Cowgirls. Wyoming had 25 digs in the fourth set alone, with Allison Waldvogel leading the way with nine.

Senior Bridget Shanahan and junior Kayla Slofkiss kept the offense in gear against CSU. Shanahan had a team-high 15, while Sloffkiss added 14 for UW. With her 14 kills, Slofkiss scooped up 12 digs for her team-leading 14th double-double of the season.

Courtney Chacon had her tenth double-double for Wyoming as she had 26 assists and 16 digs. It was the fifth time this season Chacon has had 25 or more assists. Waldvogel led the Cowgirls with 18 digs on the evening. She also had four assists and a career-high two kills. Cori Aafedt added 23 assists and six digs for Wyoming.

Copeland, Henderson and Laura Beach each had six kills for the Cowgirls against Colorado State. Copeland had a .625 hitting percentage to go along with her outstanding defensive play, while Emily Hines added five kills for UW.

In the first set, Chacon had five digs, while Slofkiss added four for UW. Shanahan had four of her kills in the first frame, as Slofkiss had a team-high five in the second. The third set was highlighted by the ten blocks between Copeland and Henderson, while Waldvogel lead both teams with nine digs in the fourth set. Shanahan had three kills to lead Wyoming in the final set.

 

 

 

 

 

Swimming and Diving Concludes Action at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The University of Wyoming swimming and diving teams concluded action at the Purdue Invitational Sunday afternoon. The Cowboys ended the three-day invitational in second place behind host Purdue with 668.5 total points, while the Cowgirls came in third with 515 points.

Connor Tarver started the action for Wyoming in the 200 backstroke event. She finished fifth with a final time of 1:59.48, as Nicole Hlavacek swam a 2:01.35 to take seventh in the event. Tarver’s time was the fifth-best in school history, while Hlavacek’s proved to be the tenth best. Ryan Ball swam away with the title in the 200 back on the men’s side. His victory came with a final mark of 1:44.70, which proved to be an NCAA “B” Cut mark and third-best all-time for a Cowboy.

“Connor (Tarver), Nicole (Hlavacek) and a number of others really swam well today to get us going,” UW head coach Tom Johnson said. “The freestyle events looked sharp with personal bests and did a tremendous job getting everyone ready to go this weekend. I was also happy with how the relay groups finished the weekend for this team. Overall, it was great to finish where we did.”

Slade Sheaffer took sixth place in the 200 back, just before Emily Ridout finished in second place in the 100 free. Ridout touched the pads with a time of 49.92 for the Cowgirls, the third-best all-time for Wyoming. It also qualified as an NCAA “B” Cut time. Isobel Ryan (50.32) brought home the fourth-fastest time in Wyoming history and came in fourth place in the 100 free, while Danielle Badger finished seventh.

Kyle White had a final time of 45.14 in the 100 free for the Pokes, as Bryce Carter had a 45.89. White finished in fourth and Carter took eighth for Wyoming. Maria Harutjunjan was the top Cowgirl in the 100 breaststroke. Her NCAA “B” Cut time was a 2:14.03.

Gabe Rooker had a final time on Sunday afternoon of 1:59.99 in the 200 breaststroke, and Liam Holt swam the event in 2:01.85. Rooker took third in the event for Wyoming, before Holt finished in the fifth. Kyle Scalise also placed seventh for the Cowboys in the 200 breast.

In the 200 fly, Molly Coonce (2:00.42) had the sixth-best time in school history to take fifth place. Wade Nelson finished in third on the men’s side with a final mark of 1:48.15. George Eglesfield was close behind Nelson, taking fourth and Jack Herron finished in sixth. Ryan Nelson took seventh in the 200 fly, as Jacob Porter came in eighth.

In the relay events, a tandem of Ryan, Badger, Emily Stucky and Ridout came in second place in the 400 free relay. They had a finals time of 3:21.95, while the Cowboys also took second in the event. The Pokes closed out the invitational in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:00.63.