On Wednesday night, the Wyoming Cowgirls basketball team played loose and unpressured in an 86-51 win over the Utah State Aggies.
The Cowgirls shot 52 percent from the field, and snapped a three-game losing streak in Mountain West Conference play.
“I even joked in practice with them,” head coach Joe Legerski said. “Let’s pretend that we have been winning, lighten up.”
Senior guard Kaitlyn Mileto followed that advice and, in the process, lit up the scoreboard. Mileto scored a game high 26 points for the Cowgirls including going 6-7 from 3-point range. She played 33 minutes for Wyoming, contributed with two steals and an assist, impressing the home crowd along the way.
“Kaitlyn and I sat down … and I told her she was more than just a shooter,” Legerski said.
Mileto was the star shooter of the night. With 6:41 remaining in the second half, she launched her final made 3-pointer of the night. It was a total heat-check shot from the top of the key with 7 seconds left on the shot clock. She drained it and gave Wyoming a 31-point lead at that juncture.
“We needed a win,” Mileto said. “I think we gained some of our confidence back.”
She was not the only Cowgirl to have a big night for the program. Senior guard Kayla Woodward scored 18 points on the night and recorded three steals. Junior guard Marquelle Dent scored 17 points, nine assists and four steals. She performed one of the top plays of the game when she blocked Utah State player Elise Nelson and ran down to the other end for a 3-point shot. Legerski was happy with the steals of the night.
“A stat I am really happy to see is that we had 15 steals on the night,” he said. “All that was done in a half-court setting. We weren’t trying to trap or pressure full-court, that’s just good team defense.”
Utah State committed 22 turnovers on the night, and the Cowgirls scored 24 points off them. The other eye-popping stat for the Cowgirls was the fact they had 16 assists on 29 made baskets.
“I just need everybody to be good, I don’t need anyone to be great,” Legerski said. “If you take anyone out of this rotation, it becomes a two or three possession game.”
Commenting on the game as a whole, Woodward said, “we played like how we normally play, but a few more of our shots fell and the extra pass just always seemed to be there.”
Last year, Mileto had a career-high against Utah State with 30 points. Wednesday, she recorded a season-high 26 points. The Cowgirls are 3-5 in the Mountain West Conference with wins over Boise State, San Jose State and now Utah State. The Cowgirls’ next game will be Saturday in Reno against the Nevada Wolfpack at 5 p.m. Nevada is 2-5 in Mountain West play, and currently on a five-game losing streak.
