Cowgirls Close Regular Season Tuesday at San Diego State

* University of Wyoming press release

LARAMIE - The Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team travels to San Diego State Tuesday night, March 5 to close-out the 2023-24 regular season. Tuesday’s contest is slated for a 7 p.m., Mountain Time start.

Tuesday will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.

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Seeding will be on the line in the season finale for the Cowgirls. UW can still get up to the No. 2 seed at next week’s Mountain West Tournament. The Cowgirls would need to win Tuesday at San Diego State and have New Mexico lose at Fresno State, in order to climb up to the second seed. Wyoming secures no worse than the No. 3 seed with a win over the Aztecs.

ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming (16-12, 11-6 MW) is coming off a 62-51 win Saturday on Senior Day against Fresno State. The Cowgirls held the Bulldogs to under 32-percent shooting from the floor in the win and held Fresno to just 3-of-13 shooting and forced five turnovers in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s victory. Allyson Fertig led the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds on the day, her 12th career 20-point game. It was also her second consecutive contest recording a double-double. Fertig shot 7-of-11 from the floor and made a career-best 10 free throws.

Tess Barnes and Emily Mellema also scored in double figures Saturday, scoring 13 and 11, respectively. Mellema and Malene Pedersen both recorded team-best four assists on the day while Barnes and Fertig had a pair of blocks each. As a team, the Cowgirls doubled-up the Bulldogs in points in the paint, 32-16.

The quartet of Barnes, Fertig, Mellema and Pedersen are all averaging in double figures in Mountain West play with one game left to go. Fertig is averaging 12.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in conference, while shooting a league-leading 60.7-percent from the floor. Fertig is also shooting nearly 81-percent at the free-throw line.

Mellema is averaging 10.8 points per game and is second on the team (first overall) in MW action with 48 assists. Mellema also has a team-high 20 steals. Barnes and Pedersen come in at 10.6 and 10.5 points per game, respectively. Barnes is now shooting nearly 40-percent from 3-point range during conference play and is making 2.3 3-pointers a game.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
Adryana Quezada leads four Aztecs scoring in double figures this season with 14.1 points per game. Quezada, who shoots a team-leading 54-percent from the floor, also leads San Diego State with 6.5 rebounds per game. Jada Lewis (10.7 PPG), Abby Prohaska (10.6) and Kim Villalobos (10.5) also score 10-plus a game. Villalobos is second on the team in rebounding at 6.1 a game and has a team-high 28 blocks and 42 steals. Prohaska, meanwhile, leads SDSU averaging three assists per game.

As a team, San Diego State is averaging 66.8 points per game and is shooting over 41-percent from the floor and nearly 32-percent from 3-point range. Aztec opponents average 65.2 a game and are shooting 40.4-percent overall and 34.2-percent from beyond-the-arc. SDSU averages just fewer assists per game than its opponents but have committed over two turnovers fewer per game this season. The Aztecs are 11-4 at home in 2023-24, and has lost just once in Viejas Arena in Mountain West play.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST SAN DIEGO STATE
Wyoming leads the all-time series, 37-30 and has dominated as of late, having won 7-of-8 and 11-of-13 lately in the series. The Cowgirls won earlier this season in Laramie, 72-55. Last season in San Diego, UW won 70-58 thanks to an incredible second half from the Cowgirls.