Cowgirls Grind Out Victory Over Lady Griz [VIDEOS]
Liv Roberts scored 15 points and made two clutch free throws as the Wyoming Cowgirls held on for a 67-62 victory over the Montana Lady Griz Monday night.
Roberts exceeded her minutes limit with 32, but her pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds left sealed the win in Laramie. Roberts had a key jumper with 3:41 left and also two other free throws with 16.9 seconds remaining.
Wyoming (2-0) led 52-51 with five minutes left. The Cowgirls went on a 9-0 run keyed by Bailee Cotton’s three-point play. After Roberts’ big jumper, Cotton made four more free throws, as UW extended to a 61-51 lead.
Montana (0-1) responded with seven straight points and pulled within 61-58. It came down to the charity stripe after that.
The Cowgirls made 6-8 at the line to preserve the victory.
Cotton added 11 points, while Clara Tapia and Sladjana Rakovic scored 10 points apiece. Wyoming shot 42.5 percent from the field. They went 27-33 at the free throw line. One area the Cowgirls struggled with was 13 turnovers.
The Lady Griz shot 40 percent from the floor. Thanks to 11 offensive rebounds and UW’s turnovers, Montana had 18 more shots from the field. Sierra Anderson and Madi Schoening both scored 14 points to lead the Lady Griz. They got 10 points off Wyoming turnovers.
After a slow start, UW made five free throws at the end of the first quarter for a 12-9 lead. They opened up a 21-13 advantage of Rakovic’s lay-in with 5:20 left in the half. The Lady Griz responded and scored eight straight in the last 2:16 of the half for a 25-24 lead. Tapia went coast-to-coast for a lay-up at the buzzer that gave the Cowgirls a 26-25 lead at the break.
The third quarter saw six lead changes and four ties before Rakovic scored eight points in a row, and Wyoming held a slim 44-41 lead heading into the fourth.
Montana got within one, but never took the lead in the final frame. The Cowgirls made 13-of-15 free throws over the final 5:24 for the victory.
Wyoming returns to action Thursday at Denver. Game time is 7 p.m.