The Wyoming Cowgirls struggled from the start and were blown out by UNLV Saturday night, 66-37, in Las Vegas. The 37 points is a season-low.

Wyoming (9-5, 2-2) was led by Marquelle Dent with 12 points. Hailey Ligocki added a career best eight points. The Cowgirls shot 28 percent from the floor. They went 0-for-21 from 3-point range. That snapped a string of 201 games for UW with at least one made 3-point field goal.

UNLV (8-6, 1-2) was led by Nikki Wheatley with 19 points. The Rebels shot 40 percent from the field and out-rebounded Wyoming, 48-29. UNLV also took advantage of 17 Cowgirl turnovers with 22 points and had 19 second chance points.

Head coach Joe Legerski said there was a combination of things that took place to start the game.

“UNLV played very well, made shots and their confidence was very high. We turned the ball over, couldn’t get any easy shots… we were concerned with this happening, and with a young team sometimes they don’t see it happening.”

A 14-2 run by UNLV set the tone from the start. The Rebels led 43-18 by halftime.

Wyoming trimmed the deficit to 15 points late in the third quarter, but scored only four points in the final frame and lost by 29.

The Cowgirls will try to bounce back Wednesday, when they host San Jose State at 7 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.

More From KOWB 1290