Cowgirls Top Rams in Overtime

The second edition of the Border War in women's basketball lived up to its nickname. In a battle to the end, the Wyoming Cowgirls-Colorado State Rams 66-62 in overtime. The game featured 13 lead changes and 15 ties. The Cowgirls rallied from a six-point deficit twice.

With 18.2 seconds to go, Chaundra Sewell missed a shot in the paint that would have tied the game at 52. Instead, the Rams would rebound the ball and make one of two free throws, giving them a three-point lead, 53-50. With the clock winding down, Chaundra Sewell hit a three-point field goal to tie it up at 53 all and force overtime.

The beginning of overtime was a back and forth battle until Ashley Sickles banked in a 3 with the shot clock running out and gave the Cowgirls a 62-59 lead with 1:29 left. Wyoming sealed the win by hitting 4-of-6 free throws in the final minute.

If you can stay close sometimes you need to have some magic happen and I was happy for Chaundra Sewell. We ran a set play for her and unfortunately she couldn’t come up with it. I told her that we would come back to her and she kept her head up and hit that huge three to send it into the overtime. We did a nice job in the extra period staying aggressive and attacking the basket.
-Head Coach Joe Legerski

Sewell led the way for the Wyoming (11-13, 7-4) with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Three other Cowgirls scored in double figures including Woodward with 20 points, Sickles with 14 and Mileto with 10. UW shot just 35.3 percent (18-51) from the field, but found 21 second chance points from 14 offensive boards. They shot 40 percent (6-15) from 3-point range, and 77.4 percent (24-31) from the free throw line.

CSU (12-14, 8-3) was led by Kelly Hartig with 17 points and 6 boards and Sam Martin with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Their leading scorer, Kim Mestdagh was held to 4 points and she committed 4 turnovers before fouling out with 27 seconds left in regulation. CSU hit 42.3 percent (22-52) of their shots from the field, 23.1 percent (3-13) from beyond the arc, and 88.2 percent (15-17) from the foul line.

To have four players in double-figures led by Chaundra and Kayla that’s a big night. The defensive job that Kaitlyn Mileto did on Kim Mestdagh was tremendous. We made some adjustments from the first game we played. She did a nice job especially playing 39 minutes.
-Head Coach Joe Legerski

The Cowgirls will host league-leading San Diego State on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 6:00 p.m. in the Arena Auditorium. Coverage will start on KOWB-AM at 5:30 p.m.