• Tip-off set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+ 

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 7, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirls hit the road for the first time in the young season with a Saturday trip to former conference rival BYU in a 2 p.m., tip-off.

Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on ESPN Plus and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.

ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming opened the season with a 56-50 home loss to another Big 12 team, Colorado, Monday night. Allyson Fertig led the Cowgirls with 18 points and a pair of blocks in the loss while Tess Barnes also finished in double figures, notching 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Malene Pedersen led UW with four assists on the night. Wyoming held CU to just 34-percent shooting in the contest and 1-of-10 from 3-point range.

Fertig has received numerous preseason honors to begin the year. She was named the Preseason Mountain West Co-Player of the Year and to the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Watchlist in October. Last week, Fertig was named to the Lisa Leslie Award Watchlist. Fertig moved into 18^th-place on the all-time scoring list Monday and now has 1,256 for her career. She sits in 11^th with 514 career field goals, is seventh in career rebounding with 838 boards and is fourth with 153 career blocks.

Emily Mellema recorded a pair of assists and had four steals against the Buffs. Mellema sits just outside the top-25 in program history in both career assists and steals. She is 11 assists shy of moving into a tie for 24^th and is 21 shy of moving into 25^th on the all-time steals list.

SCOUTING BYU
BYU opened the season with a 67-62 home victory over Idaho Wednesday evening. The Cougars return a pair of starters from last season’s squad in Emma Calvert and Amari Whiting. Whiting is BYU’s leading-returning scorer after averaging 10.6 points per game last season. Whiting led the Cougars with 123 assists and 50 steals in 2023- 24. Calvert, meanwhile, started in 13 games last season and averaged 7.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. BYU had three scoring in double figures in the season-opener with Delaney Gibb’s 17 leading the way. Gibbs and Whiting led the team with five assists each. Kemery Congdon and Calvert scored 12 and 10, respectively in the win.

The Cougars averaged 65.4 points per game last season while allowing 65.7 a contest. BYU shot 43.4-percent overall from the floor a season ago and hit over 36-percent from 3-point range. BYU had a plus-5.6 rebounding advantage last season and recorded over 100 more assists than its opponents. The Cougars did average 17 turnovers per game while forcing just over 12 a contest. BYU shot 62-percent as a team from the free-throw line in 2023-24 while posting a 10-5 record at home in the Marriott Center.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST BYU
BYU leads the all-time series 50-22 and has a 26-8 advantage in games played in Provo. Wyoming’s 86-74 victory last season in Laramie snapped a four-game losing streak in the series for the Cowgirls. UW last won in Provo in 2009, 57-55 in overtime. Pedersen led the Cowgirls with 19 points in last season’s victory and shot 6-of-11 from the floor. Off the bench, McKinley Dickerson had 17, also on 6-of-11 shooting while Barnes and Fertig both finished in double digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively.