Streak gives Cowgirls confidence in tough stretch of season
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - The first three quarters of Saturday's game against New Mexico filled the Wyoming bench with nerves and uncertainty.
A shaky offense put the Cowgirls behind in the first quarter and a lack of defending Lobos standout guard Cherise Beynon allowed New Mexico to lead going into the half. It was the first time that Wyoming trailed at halftime of a Mountain West game this season.
Fortunes changed when Wyoming made changes at the break and dominated the second half on the way to a 68-52 win at Arena-Auditorium. The brown and gold bench cleared upon the final horn and exchanged congratulatory cheers for the ninth straight game.
"Coach (Joe Legerski) talked about it in the locker room that they're all big games now that we're into conference," junior Liv Roberts said afterward. "Still being undefeated in conference and beating New Mexico is a huge thing and so a pat on the back to all of us. We fought hard and it's a great feeling."
The 7-0 start to the conference season is now the best in program history - even better than the 2007-08 team that accounts for the program's only NCAA Tournament appearance.
Successes since the three-point loss to Idaho on Dec. 9 can be contributed to the improved defense.
Legerski approached this season with a more focused mentality on defense and rebounding. The Cowgirls spent multiple practices during the first week working on only their defense.
That work has paid off in the form of holding eight of the nine opponents to 60 points or less - three of the nine scored less than 50.
When New Mexico had an answer for every basket in the first half, the three-point halftime deficit seemed larger than it was. That's when the defense intervened and allowed for the second-half comeback.
"(New Mexico) only scored six points in the third quarter," junior Natalie Baker told the Casper Star-Tribune (http://bit.ly/2koftwz). "(Beynon) got off not what she had in the first half so that was huge for our guards to get a stop. We don't really give up. Down three isn't anything, it's only one possession."
Wyoming closed out the Lobos by outscoring them 38-19 in the second half and holding them to just 36 percent shooting from the floor. Beynon only scored three points in the final 20 minutes and New Mexico was outrebounded 40-31.
In sole possession of first place in the conference, the Cowgirls are staying level-headed despite having the word "undefeated" attached to their current resume.
There's no talk of finishing the season unbeaten in conference play. Instead, players talk openly about going game-by-game and know a loss at this point isn't apocalyptic to their season.
"Before the season we didn't set a goal to be 7-0 or to be undefeated in conference," Baker said. "Our goal is just to get better."
It is, however, lonely at the top and the Cowgirls are starting to get used to that. Air Force and Nevada both had them on the ropes in their respective games and the season only gets tougher from this point forward.
Most teams in the Mountain West will not make the NCAA Tournament this season but one is guaranteed to. So when the team on top travels for games, the crowds turnout and cheer a little bit harder in hopes of witnessing an upset.
Wyoming is prepared for just that event when going on the road for a two-game swing this week. First is UNLV on Wednesday in Las Vegas. The second is at Boise State on Saturday afternoon. Both are 4-3 in the Mountain West and would love to be responsible for the Cowgirls' first conference loss.
"Coach always says, 'We want to split on the road' when we do go on the road so when we got those back-to-back wins, that's huge for us," Roberts said. "We just know that every night out is a new game. It doesn't matter that we're 8-0. Teams don't care, that just makes them want to beat us more so right now we have a target on our back and we know that, and that just makes us want to compete more."
There's a lot of season left with 11 games remaining on the schedule. Maybe, at the end of the year, this winning streak won't be what the Cowgirls are remembered for. The streak does not give them an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and it won't mean anything if there's an upset in the conference tournament.
But what the streak has done already is serve as a confidence boost that carries them into each game.
"It makes you want to play hard every day and keep working," senior Hailey Ligocki said. "And it's just been so awesome for the team. I love the team, we have awesome chemistry. Everybody works hard. ...
"It gives us confidence, gives us hope, gives us something to work for."
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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com