It was a painful loss in more ways than one for the Wyoming Cowgirls Wednesday night. They lost at Border War rival Colorado State, 61-54.

The big news was an injury to junior Liv Roberts early in the fourth quarter. The severity is unknown at this time.

CSU capitalized on the short-handed Cowgirls with eight straight points at the start of the fourth quarter. That gave the Rams a 51-45 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. UW pulled within 53-49 on a pair of free throws and a basket from Natalie Baker, but Colorado State made back-to-back lay-ups that made the margin too much to overcome.

In a release from the university, Wyoming head coach Joe Legerski knew it came down to the final period.

“I thought it was a great game between two of the top teams in the league. Nobody was going to give in. We did a better job defensively in the second half, but the game came down to the fourth quarter. When you take a look at it, they went 7-12 and we went 3-8 and missed some easy shots. I told the group, everybody needs to step up, needs to play at their best. We move on, the games keep coming and we will have to get back to work tomorrow.”

Wyoming (18-7, 10-4) was led by Roberts’ 20 points and six rebounds. Baker added 11 points, while Hailey Ligocki chipped in 10 points. The Cowgirls shot 45 percent from the field.

The Rams were led by Elin Gustavsson with 26 points and eight boards. Ellen Nystrom added 18 points and nine rebounds. CSU shot 50 percent in the game and scored 13 points off 12 Wyoming turnovers.

Colorado State (20-6, 12-2) took a two-game lead in the Mountain West women’s basketball standings. It was their seventh straight win in the series.

The Cowgirls got off to a quick 7-2 start, but the Rams used a 9-0 run to gain the lead. They extended to 25-14 in the second quarter. Two small surges by Wyoming closed the gap to 33-29 CSU at halftime. UW tied the game early in the third on a pair of baskets by Roberts. Her basket just before the buzzer gave the Cowgirls a 45-43 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Wyoming will return to action Saturday hosting Boise State at 2 p.m.

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