(Autumn McPherson Photo)
It was a game that the Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team would likely prefer to soon forget.
Winning a road game in Minneapolis against the Minnesota Golden Gophers was never going to be an easy task for a Cowgirls’ team that entered the contest with a less than ideal 0-4 record on the road so far this season.
Those road trips had been very unforgiving to the Cowgirls, as well, as in those four losses the Cowgirls had been defeated by an average margin of 20.75 points.
Despite that, some hope lingered in the air for a possible Cowgirl upset, as they had just recently fiercely battled a good Colorado team on the road. The Cowgirls lost that one by a final of 58-46, keeping the contest within doubt for the entire 40 minutes before eventually falling to the Buffaloes.
However, any hope of an upset in Minneapolis was very quickly snuffed out. After knotting things up at two a piece in their initial possession of the first quarter, the Cowgirls’ offense completely disappeared. The Golden Gophers would take complete advantage of the Cowgirls’ offensive struggles, bursting out to a 19-2 lead. Cowgirl forward Madi Symons ended a near nine minute scoring drought for the Cowgirls in the dying seconds of the first quarter to bring it to 19-4.
In just the opening quarter of play alone, the Cowgirls had compiled six turnovers and made just two shots from the field, good for just 18.2%.
The Cowgirl offense found a little bit more of a groove in the second quarter, tripling their output from the first frame of play to 13 points. However, the Golden Gopher offense continued to roll as well, as they opened up a 31-point halftime lead by the time the horns mercifully sounded to end the first half.
Things didn’t get much better for the Cowgirls in the following quarters, as the Golden Gophers continued to roll and the Cowgirls eventually dropped the contest by a final score of 80-34.
The Cowgirls finished the contest just 30.4% from the field and 23.8% from deep, while recording 18 turnovers. Only one Cowgirl finished in double figures, that being Malene Pedersen with 10 points to lead the Cowgirls.
While a loss of this magnitude may be disheartening for a Cowgirls’ team with much higher expectations for themselves, the tough non-conference schedule they were dealt was always going to be difficult for a team replacing six crucial seniors. With the Cowgirls more often on the road in their non-conference slate than not, these losses–while tough–may prove to be beneficial come Mountain West play.
Now, with their league opener against San Jose State on December 17 just around the corner, they will have to prove it.
