(John Barker Photo)
The weight of losing six crucial seniors in the previous offseason seemed to bear heavily on the Wyoming Cowgirls throughout the course of their season. Four of their five top scorers were a part of that hardy senior class, and head coach Heather Ezell and her staff were tasked with replacing massive production.
The Cowgirls would end their season in the opening round of the Mountain West tournament, losing to Air Force to cap their season off with a 10-20 overall record and a 7-13 league record. That finish was the worst the Cowgirls had seen since the 1988-89 season, when the program completed that season with a 7-19 record.
“One of those games where, I thought, we left everything on the court for us and it just came down to they made a few more plays than us and came out on top,” Ezell said after the Cowgirls’ opening round loss in the Mountain West tournament.
The season wasn’t all doom and gloom despite that, though.
The Cowgirls saw marked improvement throughout the course of the season, firing off four straight wins in late January and were even able to pull off an upset on the road against a tough UNLV team.
It was clear that Ezell’s young team was slowly beginning to find themselves towards the end of the season, despite it being cut short in the postseason. Now the team must turn their attention towards yet another crucial offseason, as the Cowgirls will once again be losing integral graduating pieces.
Gone will be a pair of seniors who led the Cowgirls in scoring and both played upwards of 30 minutes a game.
Henna Sandvik competed for the Cowgirls for just one season after starting her career at Indiana, but her presence was immediately felt. She was a staple for the Cowgirls on both ends of the ball, averaging 10.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
Malene Pedersen caps off an incredible career at Wyoming with over 1,598 points, which places her within the top-10 in career points scored at Wyoming. She started in all but one game in her career with the Cowgirls, and it will be difficult to replicate what she brought to the program in her decorated four years in the Brown and Gold.
“She is exactly what we talk about, what Wyoming toughness is, what our program is built on,” Ezell said of Pedersen after the Cowgirls ended their season.
“That’s what I talked about in the locker room, is, if she has taught anything to our young players and showed them anything, it’s that this is how hard you have to work, and this is how hard it should hurt when it doesn’t go your way.”
If that legacy has rubbed off onto some of the Cowgirls’ younger players, then Ezell and her staff will have a lot of build off after this last season. The Cowgirls have a multitude of freshmen on the roster who could return next season, including Jane Rumpf who had a massive impact in her first season with the Cowgirls.
The Cowgirls also have significant contributors in Payton Muma, Madi Symons and Lana Beslic who could also make a return next season. As of the time of writing, the Cowgirls have only lost sophomore forward Heidur Karlsdottir to the transfer portal.
If the Cowgirls can retain those players and bring in some more talent to help bolster the roster, then they certainly can compete for a championship in the new Mountain West.
