LARAMIE — The Wyoming Cowboys and Wyoming Cowgirls both celebrated Senior Night with home victories Tuesday at the Arena-Auditorium, as the Cowboys topped Nevada Wolf Pack 83-73 and the Cowgirls edged Grand Canyon Lopes 59-57 in a thriller.
Khaden Bennett scored a career-high 27 points, including six 3-pointers in the first half, to lead the Cowboys (17-13, 8-11 Mountain West). Wyoming shot 69% in the opening half and 63% for the game while securing its 14th home win of the season, the most since 2021-22.
“Winning season, the first one since 2021-22 and still more games to be play. But I’m proud of that locker room for guaranteeing ourselves a winning season and that is a tip of the cap to the guys in that room,” coach Sundance Wicks said. “We kept fighting and the small ball lineup has won four of the last five. Don’t let the Pokes get hot and we are playing pretty good basketball and that first half shows that and they did that tonight for the seniors.”
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Damarion Dennis added 18 points and tied a career high with six rebounds, going 9 of 13 from the field. Gavin Gores scored 11 points off the bench, all on dunks, and Leland Walker finished with 10 points and three assists.
Wyoming used a 14-0 first-half run to build a 29-14 lead and eventually carried a 49-28 advantage into the break behind Bennett’s sixth 3-pointer of the half. Nevada shot 50% in the second half and trimmed a 21-point deficit to as few as seven points in the closing minutes, but the Cowboys converted late free throws to seal the win.
Elijah Price led Nevada with 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and Tyler Rollison added 14 points and four assists.
The Cowgirls finished the home season with a defensive stand in the final seconds to secure their two-point victory over Grand Canyon.
Wyoming got two stops in the final 44 seconds and forced a miss with under four seconds remaining before securing the rebound to clinch the win. The Cowgirls also won an out-of-bounds challenge with 14 seconds left and made a free throw to extend the lead to two.
“I think this was the epitome of the ‘Cowgirl Toughness’ that we talk about,” coach Heather Ezell said. “Where you have to just grind out the win and to do it for the seniors tonight, we were going to leave everything out on the court. A handful of players, that’s exactly what they did.”
Malene Pedersen scored 20 points in her final home game, recording her 17th career 20-point performance. She added five rebounds, five assists and a steal, and made Wyoming’s lone 3-pointer. Henna Sandvik added 16 points, four assists and a block, while Jane Rumpf scored eight points.
Wyoming shot 43.4% from the field and went 1 of 11 from 3-point range. Grand Canyon shot 33.9% overall and 6 of 24 from beyond the arc, including four 3-pointers in a 27-point third quarter.
The Cowboys close the regular season Saturday at San Jose State. The Cowgirls open Mountain West tournament play Saturday as the No. 8 seed against ninth-seeded Air Force.
