(Autumn McPherson Photo)
It was all about the response.
Wyoming Cowgirl head basketball coach Heather Ezell was looking to see how her team would respond in their Mountain West conference opener against San Jose State after losing a very lopsided affair on the road at Minnesota by a final score of 80-34 to cap off their non-conference slate.
“The ultimate goal was, you know, we talked about after Minnesota–I went in the locker room and I ripped the stat sheet up and said ‘it doesn’t matter now,’” Ezell said. “Conference play is here and everybody is 0-0 and this is where we make our run for March.”
From tip-to-finish, that road game in Minneapolis was basically a no-contest as the Cowgirls fell behind by 17 points early after only scoring four points in the first quarter. The Cowgirl offense was stalled and held scoreless for nearly nine minutes in that opening frame of play as well.
For a moment, it seemed like the Cowgirls’ offensive struggles carried over to their league opener against the Spartans, as they opened the first quarter shooting just 33.3% from the field along with a 0/5 mark from deep. It seemed as though the ghost of that shredded stat sheet from just a few days ago was back to haunt them.
However, those numbers completely skyrocketed after an extremely proficient second quarter.
The Cowgirls would shoot a blazing 55% from the field in the second quarter, while cashing in six threes. Freshman Jane Rumpf would emphatically cap off an efficient second quarter with a last-second three-pointer from the top of the key, as the Cowgirls would score a season-high 29 in the quarter by the time the horn sounded.
Jane for 3 to beat the buzzer 🚨
— Wyoming Cowgirl Basketball (@wyo_wbb) December 18, 2025
Wyoming 41 – 32 San Jose State pic.twitter.com/5r0nDZRTHu
“Once we had figured out that zone, I think our offense just started to move really smooth in that second quarter,” Ezell said.
The Cowgirls wouldn’t let their foot off the gas in the second half, either. Their red-hot three point shooting barrage would persist into the third quarter as well, as Indiana transfer Henna Sandvik would cash in two straight threes in the opening minutes of the third quarter as the Cowgirls continued to extend their lead.
By the time this one was over, the Cowgirls had put together their best offensive performances of the year–which couldn’t have come at a better time after scoring a season-low 34 points against Minnesota. A final score of 83-60 would serve as their best offensive output since they put up 75 points against D-II Chadron State in November.
Sandvik and Malene Pedersen led the way for the Cowgirl offense, both pouring in 21 points a piece. That served as a career-high for Sandvik, who continues to find her confidence with the Cowgirls after a three-year stint at Indiana where she averaged less than 10 minutes a game.
“It’s one of those things, like my past three years I haven’t had a lot of minutes, not a lot of experience taking a lot of shots,” Sandvik said. “So, just having that mindset that it doesn’t matter if I miss or if I make mistakes, I’m gonna keep being aggressive.”
That same mentality applies to much of this year’s roster, as Pedersen has served as the only returner who averaged more than two points and 11 minutes from a 22-win season last year.
“Obviously we have Malene, she’s been great. Her whole college career, she’s used to taking a lot of shots. She’s a great player, but for a lot of us other players, it has been a little bit of an adjustment of having that scoring mentality,” Sandvik added.
A night like tonight goes a long way for a young team still trying to find their stride.
The final box score of tonight’s contest would likely be a stat sheet that Ezell would like to proudly display in her locker room, rather than one she would want to shred to pieces and never see again.
Not only did the Cowgirls score a season-high 83 points, but they were extremely efficient shooting 45.8% from the field and 38.5% from beyond the arc. The Cowgirls also finished with 15 more rebounds than the Spartans and finished with 23 assists on 33 made field goals.
Now, the Cowgirls will look to carry the momentum of their conference opening win on the road at Fresno State this upcoming Saturday.
“The biggest thing I always talk about right now is that probably the toughest game of the year is the game before Christmas,” Ezell said.
“The only present I want to think about really is a win at Fresno.”
