Day at the Beach: Cowgirls Roll Past Long Beach State

LARAMIE — The Wyoming Cowgirls jumped on Long Beach State early and led wire-to-wire Friday night to pick up their first win of the season in front of the home crowd. The Cowgirls shot 54.7-percent from the floor and held LBSU to just 27.3-percent shooting in the 72-39 win.

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“A game like this is important to see what we talk about on the scouting report, especially on the defensive end, to see it work,” said head coach Heather Ezell.

“They executed it to almost perfection. I think that’s one key. Then they were able to come out and execute on the offensive end, I think they were having fun out there. To be able to do something like that gets all of their confidence rolling. I think they were all playing pretty loose, which is a good thing. Those are the type of games you want from them and they can’t start feeling good about themselves.”

The Cowgirls came out firing Friday, opening the scoring with the first 12 points of the game. Wyoming hit five of its first seven shots in the contest. After the first quarter media timeout, Long Beach State got its first hoop of the game after missing its first eight shots to begin.

The UW offense continued to hum the rest of the quarter, as did the strong defense as it led 23-4 after one. Wyoming shot 10-of-18 in the first 10 minutes while The Beach went 2-for-14.

After LBSU started the second with back-to-back hoops, Malene Pedersen forced a Long Beach State timeout with 8:02 left in the half after she scored five straight points to make it 28-8.

Following the timeout, The Beach started cutting into the Cowgirl lead before three points from Lana Beslic, followed by an assist on a Henna Sandvik 3-pointer pushed the Wyoming lead to 34-13. The Cowgirls took a 38-19 lead into the break.

Long Beach State opened the second half with a 3-pointer before back-to-back-to-back layups from Wyoming got the lead back up to 22 and forced an LBSU timeout with 7:59 remaining in the third. Out of the timeout, the two teams traded baskets for a bit as the Cowgirls led 50-24 at the media timeout. UW’s advantage was 56-28 after three complete.

Wyoming scored the first 11 points of the fourth to build a 39-point advantage before the final media timeout. Following the media, the Cowgirls played mostly reserves the final 4:23 of the contest as LBSU cut into the advantage to make things more respectable in the final box score. Nine of the 10 Cowgirls that played in the overwhelming victory, scored Friday night.

Pedersen led all scorers with 15 points in under 27 minutes of play. It is Pedersen’s 22nd consecutive game scoring in double figures. Pedersen shot 6-of-8 from the floor and made 3-of-4 from 3-point range. She also pulled down eight rebounds and dished out seven assists on the night.

Logann Alvar scored a career-best 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and tied a career-high with five rebounds. It is the first time at Wyoming that Alvar has scored 10-plus points. Joining Alvar on the career-high train was Beslic, who had 10 and scored her first-career points with the Cowgirls, Madi Symons, who scored eight and Sandvik who scored a Wyoming career-high 10.

The trio combined to shoot 10-of-19 from the field and made four 3-pointers. Jane Rumpf and Peyton Wohlford also scored their first points with the Brown & Gold in the win.

UW shot 29-of-53 on the night and assisted on 20 made baskets. The Cowgirls held LBSU to just 15-for-55 shooting and 4-of-22 from beyond-the-arc. Wyoming made 9-of-21 from deep and also enjoyed a plus-11 margin in rebounding.

The Cowgirls enjoyed a 36-20 advantage in points in the paint and also got an 18-10 edge in points off turnovers. Wyoming scored 15 bench points on the night while The Beach got four from reserves. The Cowgirls also had a 5-2 edge in fast break points.

Next up, Wyoming hits the road for three consecutive contests. The Cowgirls travel to face UT Arlington Tuesday, November 11 at 5:30 p.m., Mountain Time.

PRESS PASS: Roaming The WarWyoming Cowboys vs. Montana State Bobcats Gallery Credit: DJ Johnson/ 7220sports.com DJ Johnson photoUW vs MSUPostgame wins are the best, especially if you’re a fan waiting to catch a glimpse, a photo or perhaps an autograph of your favorite player. I always appreciate when an athlete — at any level — takes the time to stop and make the day of young fans who wait around in hopes of meeting you. Here, Ayden Eberhardt, makes the day, the week, the month or maybe the year for this young Cowboy fan. Thanks, Ayden! Guarantee this young lady and her friends will never forget this moment. Look at that face — pure excitement! DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUHow many Wyoming fans can guess who this player is, solely (see what I did there) based on this picture? Have you ever wondered what the “red shoe” looks like up close? Well, here it is. Name that player! (It’s Wyoming placekicker John Hoyland) DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUOpening day was also stripe out day Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie. Fans were asked to wear either brown or gold depending on what section they were in. As you can see from this photo, the upper east side did their part. Students — that’s a different story. DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUI appreciate the effort, my man. As matter of fact, I give you a 9-out-of-10 for the attempt to blend in. While you may have fooled the students next to you, in front of you and behind you — you can’t hide from me! Carry on, Bobcat. Carry on. DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUOK, I won’t lie — I’m fan-crushing. I’m a fan of No. 48. He’s a good football player, he’s a good person, he’s a Wyoming Cowboy. I’ll try to capture a better shot of what it looks to be stared down as the enemy, but for now this is the best I can do. Chad Muma was scary if you were wearing white Saturday. The junior linebacker registered a team-high 11 tackles, including two tackles for loss, a sack and a blocked kick. DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUWhat does the down marker look like from the stands? Just a black box? This is what it looks like from six-feet away. My question is — what in the world are all of those number that litter the backside of the marker. Is it really that complicated? I’m not sure, but I was definitely surprised to see all of the ‘googly-goop’ that’s on the backside. DJ JohnsonUW vs. MSUNothing beats having a front-row seat for a game-winning touchdown. Here is Treyton Welch hauling in a 21-yard scoring strike — with one hand — with just 47 seconds left on the clock. The Pokes’ dodged an opening-day bullet with a 19-16 victory over the Bobcats. DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUI know, I know — everyone has seen the alternate uniform combo that Wyoming wore last Saturday. I’m curious to how everyone feels about it. The guy in the photo, Ayden Eberhardt, told us he was stunned to hear the Cowboys would be wearing gold — Craig Bohl doesn’t do the whole alternate uniform thing — but he loved how “clean” it looked. Here’s one thing you might not know — all players with their degree have a special logo they get to wear on their uniform. Check out the sweet “Graduate” logo pinned to his upper left chest. I think that’s a pretty cool gesture to honor the “grey-beards” on the team. DJ JohnsonUW vs. MSUHow many times have you looked at the chain gang and wondered why is that ball only one-link-short of a first down? Well, I have your answer — just joking, I don’t. But I will say that the chain gang isn’t opposed to listening to the music pumping out of the loudspeakers, as witnessed here. In the third quarter of Wyoming’s 19-16 win over Montana State, the stadium speakers blared Los Del Rio’s “Macarena.” These superstars got their groove on. I appreciate an interactive field crew. Thanks fellas, and for you I say, “First down!” DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUHere’s my guy Chad Muma again. You think that dude is excited to pull off the 19-16 a win in the Cowboys’ home opener? DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUIt’s been a tradition since 2014 — the season Craig Bohl became Wyoming’s head coach — that the players make their way over to the student section to sing “Cowboy Joe” after a win. These guys got to do just that Saturday inside War Memorial Stadium after knocking off Montana State, 19-16. DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUThis is just one of the reunions that took place Saturday in Laramie. Wyoming quarterback Sean Chambers spent some time pregame with Brent Vigen, his former offensive coordinator and current first-year Montana State head coach. Vigen spent the previous seven seasons at UW and the last 18 with UW head coach Craig Bohl. Chambers said it was a unique experience to not only play against the guys who recruited him but see him on the sideline. Any sideline — Vigen typically coaches from high above the stadium in the press box. DJ Johnson photoUW vs. MSUI’d be remiss if I didn’t end this first “Press Pass” with this picture. For those that don’t know, No. 3 is my son, a freshman on the UW football team. Andrew Johnson played at Cheyenne Central High School. Having shot Wyoming Cowboy sideline photography for the previous eight years, I’m super blessed to be able to watch my son play — from the sideline — for our home-state Cowboys. It’s going to be a fun four or five years to watch my “Young Andrew” progress as a Wyoming Cowboy football player! -PRESS PASS: Roaming The War