There’s no doubt that Cowboy and Cowgirl basketball had two vastly different seasons, both coming to vastly different endings.
The Cowboys, who notched only five conference wins throughout their league slate, saw their season come to a quick end in the postseason in the opening round of the Mountain West tournament. That final agonizing loss was one of many in the final stretches for the Cowboys, who finished their season losing 10 of their last 11 contests.
The Cowgirls, however, rolled through much of their league slate, stringing together wins in nine of their last 10 regular season games to set a new program record in conference victories at 14. Their magical season continued in the postseason, as the Cowgirls battled all the way to the championship game of the Mountain West tournament, where they’d tragically fall short in three overtimes to San Diego State. Their season would ultimately come to an end in the opening round of the WBIT (Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament), a disappointing end for a group of six seniors who gave their all to the program.
With the offseason now in full swing with the national champions of both men’s and women’s basketball decided, both squads have different paths to pave as they look for a final successful season in the Mountain West before it is remodeled in 2026.
The Cowgirls don’t have to look far to replace the production they are losing in this upcoming season. Junior Malene Pederson is one of few actual productive returners, as she was the second-leading scorer on the squad this past season and will be a name to monitor as one of the best players in the Mountain West next season.
Otherwise, the Cowgirls will be relying on a lot of their in-house youth to get the job done in the upcoming season, as a group of relatively untested freshmen and sophomores will have to step up. Sophomores Kati Ollilainen and Madi Symons were both crucial pieces off the bench last season, averaging 3.7 and 0.9 points per game, respectively. Those two, alongside previous Gonzaga transfer Payton Muma, will likely have to be the group to step up in the massive shoes of the departing seniors.
As of now, the Cowgirls have only lost a single player to the transfer portal, that being Fia Proctor. Proctor, a freshman, only played in one game in her only season as a Cowgirl. The Cowgirls have yet to make any additions to the portal but do have a class of four incoming freshmen.
The Cowboys, on the other hand, lost all but three players on their roster from a season ago to either graduation or the transfer portal, as the only productive and scholarship returners include redshirt freshman Abou Magassa and junior Matija Belic. Magassa played in nearly every game a season ago and averaged 3.2 points and 3.7 rebounds, while Belic–who missed much of the non-conference slate with an injury–averaged 5.6 points and 3.1 rebounds.
Head coach Sundance Wicks has already begun to reload via the transfer portal, as he’s already inked a pair of transfers and has received a verbal commitment from one other, on top of an intriguing incoming freshman class of three more players.
Wicks began his reconstruction of the roster with the likes of Buddy Hammer Jr, a 6’7” wing who spent two years playing at the junior college level. He spent last season at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M where he averaged a double-double including 12.6 points and 10 rebounds.
Wicks then added a D-I transfer in 6’1” guard Damarion Dennis, who comes to the Cowboys after playing just one season at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. There, Dennis averaged 6.7 points and 1.3 assists per game with the Islanders.
Khaden Bennett, a transfer from D-I Quinnipiac, was the most recent addition from the portal for the Cowboys, as the 6’4” guard spent two years at Quinnipiac. After seeing limited minutes and only averaging a point in his freshman season with the Bobcats, Bennett had a huge sophomore jump a season ago where he averaged 10.3 points and 4.3 rebounds.
While Wicks’ latest additions have much potential, he and his staff still have work yet to do to form yet another roster from the ground up for the third straight season.
While both teams’ seasons may have been vastly different, there’s no doubt that things will be looking a lot different with some unfamiliar faces for both teams inside the Arena-Auditorium come the next basketball season.
