Lobos Make The Plays To Beat The Cowgirls
Marta Gomez scored a career-high 28 points, but it wasn’t enough, as the Wyoming Cowgirls lost to the New Mexico Lobos, 78-75, Saturday in Laramie.
UW lost for the first time at home this season and has dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Wyoming (9-5, 2-3) led 70-65 on a Karla Erjavec jumper with 3:20 left. New Mexico responded with nine straight points. They got a basket from Jaisa Nunn, and then Aisia Robertson scored seven points in a row. That gave the Lobos a 74-70 advantage with 1:11 remaining.
Gomez hit her sixth 3-pointer with 41 seconds left and brought the Cowgirls within one. Nunn hit two free throws with 17.6 remaining for a 76-73 lead. Then Erjavec made a lay-up with 12.2 left, after UW’s last timeout. New Mexico’s Jayla Everett calmly sank two free throws with 10 seconds remaining for a 78-75 lead.
Wyoming had one shot to tie, but Quinn Weidemann’s right corner three sailed wide left, and the Lobos snapped a six-game skid versus the Cowgirls.
UW shot 46 percent for the game. They made 11 3-pointers. Gomez went 9-16 from the field and 6-12 from deep. She was 4-4 at the free throw line for her 28 points. Erjavec finished with 14 points and a career-best seven assists, but she also had five turnovers. Bailee Cotton had 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Taylor Rusk added 11 points.
New Mexico (15-2, 5-1) was led by Robertson with 24 points. The Lobos shot 53 percent from the floor, which included 59 percent in the second half. New Mexico knocked down 11 triples. They also scored 20 points off 13 Wyoming turnovers.
The Lobos scored the first six points of the game before the Cowgirls came back with the next nine. UW held a 17-15 edge after the first. A 12-0 run by New Mexico put them in front 33-25 with just under two minutes left in the first half. The Lobos led at the break, 36-29.
Wyoming scored seven straight points to begin the second half and tied the game at 36-36. Neither team led by more than six points the rest of the game.
The game featured 16 lead changes and was tied six different times.
The Cowgirls go back on the road to play at San Jose State Wednesday at 8 p.m., Mountain Time.