Cowgirls Shoot Their Way Past Lobos [VIDEO]

Behind 28 points and 10 rebounds from Aubrey Vandiver and a career-high tying 23 points from Jade Kennedy, the Wyoming Cowgirls grinded out a hard fought Mountain West Conference victory over the New Mexico Lobos, 78-65 Tuesday night at the Arena-Auditorium.

An 18-5 run, that featured two 3-point field goals by Vandiver, five points from Kennedy and Hillary Carlson and ended with a Chaundra Sewell lay-up, allowed the Cowgirls to pull away in the second half.  After UW committed 12 turnovers in the first 28 minutes of action, they did not have one during their run.

Carlson finished with 15 points, 13 of which came in the second half.  Aubrey, Jade and Hillary combined for 66 of the 78 Cowgirls' points.

Wyoming (18-5, 8-2) hit a season high 13 3-pointers on 27 attempts.  Kennedy knocked down seven 3's, while Vandiver had six.  It marked a career-high in made 3-point field goals for both.  As a team, the Cowgirls shot 53 percent from the floor for the game, including 64 percent in the final 20 minutes.  They also had 24 assists on 27 field goals.

New Mexico (8-13, 2-7) was led by Jasmine Patterson with 17 points.  Amanda Best scored 14 points, while Caroline Durbin added 10.

After a quick start by the Cowgirls, New Mexico rallied for their first lead at 26-23 on a Porche Torrance three with 4:05 left in the first half.  Wyoming finally ended a 5:21 drought with a pair of Vandiver free throws.  A Kennedy three with 11 seconds left gave the Cowgirls a 28-26 lead at half.

The Cowgirls return to the court Saturday with a tough road game at TCU.  Game time is set for 11 am, Mountain time.  You can listen to the game on KOWB, with coverage starting at 10:30 am.