by RENO, Nev. – After an opening 20 minutes of play that saw the Wolf Pack force 15 turnovers, the Nevada women’s basketball team was unable to repeat that performance in the second half and fell to the Wyoming Cowgirls, 72-59, on Saturday afternoon inside Lawlor Events Center. All 10 players who checked into the game for the Pack recorded points on the scoreboard and was led by sophomore AJ Cephas who finished the game with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
The Pack (6-10, 0-5 MW) came out of the gates with lots of energy on the defensive side of the ball, which resulted in eight Cowgirl turnovers at the first media timeout. The defense was led by sophomore Terae Briggs (Crow Tribe), who forced two turnovers by herself at the under-five mark in the first quarter.
With two seconds left in the opening period, junior T Moe recorded her first basket of the game, which gave her 600 points in her career. The converted and-one from Moe extended the Pack’s lead to 17-13 heading into the second stanza. Moe would finish the game with a team-high five rebounds.
After the Cowgirls (13-3, 5-0 MW) tied the game to open the second quarter, Nevada responded and reclaimed the lead, 25-20, courtesy of back-to-back threes from freshman Desirae Gonzalez (Navajo) and senior Stephanie Schmid. However, as both squads traded turns taking the lead for the remaining five minutes of the first half, it was Wyoming who found itself on top of the scoreboard, 33-32, at halftime.
The Cowgirls opened up the third quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 42-32 advantage and never looked back from that point. Despite Wyoming breaking the game open to a double-digit lead halfway through the third, Nevada did its best to climb back, cutting Wyoming’s advantage to just nine at one point in the fourth quarter. The deficit was too much for the Pack to overcome though, as the team fell 72-59.
Up next, Nevada will travel to Colorado Springs on Wednesday, Jan. 18 and take on the Air Force Falcons.
