Edmonds column: Cowgirls have promising season ahead

Knowing there was a chance they could still have basketball left, UW started back at practice four days after the loss.

A week later, the Cowgirls found out they were in this season’s WNIT. With UW getting a second life, the team started wondering who they would match up against.

Instead, the team was thrown a curveball and was awarded a first-round bye. Cowgirls coach Heather Ezell noticed right away that the hardest thing for her group would be to wait an extra week to play.

UW ended up having three weeks of practice before finally playing the University of Texas at San Antonio. The additional time in the gym left the Cowgirls champing at the bit, and the team came out guns blazing.

UW beat UTSA 80-64, followed by a dominant 84-52 win over South Dakota in the Super 16 round. The win pinned the Cowgirls against Minnesota in the Great 8, setting up the program’s first-ever game in the month of April.

The Cowgirls erased a double-digit first half deficit against the Golden Gophers, taking a lead in the third quarter. However, Minnesota outscored UW 25-14 in the fourth quarter to leave Laramie with a 65-54 win.

What changed

In the three weeks leading up to the WNIT, UW implemented a simplified practice plan. The plan saw Ezell lessen the amount of drills the team tackles in a day, instead focusing more on executing specific goals.

“We’ve got to finish drills in a different way than we have before,” Ezell said. “We have to battle. We’ve got to not just win this drill by one, but win by two instead. Or, putting less time on the clock and putting ourselves at a disadvantage.

“We got better in those three weeks, and I don’t think a lot of teams can always say that. When you’re watching the NCAA Tournament and everybody’s wishing they could be there, can you still focus and get better? Our players came in and got after it in practice.

“Our team really owned (finishing in a different way). They understood that practice may only be 60 to 80 minutes long, but there was a need to grind it out.”

Ezell thinks a little bit of everything clicked for the Cowgirls after the loss to Boise State. When granted the opportunity to continue playing, the team gave an honest evaluation of themselves.

“We all took a look in the mirror and said, ‘That was not my best effort, and I’ve gotta be better,’” Ezell said. “I know I did that, and that’s why we changed up things in practice.”

The players will remember the three-game run as a success after not ending the regular season or conference tournament how they wanted. Junior center Allyson Fertig thinks the team saw their most growth in the final month of the season.

“I’m so proud (of the growth we had),” Fertig said. “I’ve seen huge growth in everyone. We’re going to really miss Marta (Savic) and Paula (Salazar), but we’re proud to have (the rest) of these girls back next year.”

The Cowgirls think the opportunity to play teams they hadn’t seen all season was a blessing. As a result, they were able to reopen their full playbook and give different looks.

“Playing different teams with different styles and seeing different things (was beneficial),” Ezell said. “I thought we took advantage where we could. We stuck with what’s working.”

Added Fertig: “We weren’t scouting the same teams over and over. We got experience with different levels of opponents, and I think that was very beneficial.”

Defensive effort

The Cowgirls finished the year with the 69th-best scoring defense in the country at 59.8 points allowed per game. Defense is where UW has held the most confidence all season long.

Ezell knows the team’s defense gives them a chance to win each time they are on the floor. That proved to be true throughout the final month of play, as the 64 points given up to the Roadrunners was the most over that span.

“We guard, especially in the postseason,” Ezell said. “We’ve seen and handled everything in the book at this point. The postseason is about making a team work that’s never seen your defense before.

“(We get excited) when you get shot clock violations and make teams have to grind out each possession. Our team hangs their hat on that.”

The team’s defensive ability comes from its belief in the scout presented to them each week. The best example of this was UW’s 86-74 win against old rival Brigham Young back in November.

“We can play with anyone. We do good with our scout and pride ourselves on defense,” Fertig said. “Our nonconference slate against all those bigger teams prepared us and shows the Mountain West plays good basketball.”

Experience for the bench

The Cowgirls had at least four-of-five rotation players play double-digit minutes in each game of the WNIT. The bench rotation this postseason consisted of seniors McKinley Dickerson and Marta Savic, along with a trio of freshmen in Kati Ollilanen, Maren McKenna and Madi Symons.

In the team’s Super 16 game against South Dakota, the Cowgirls outscored the Coyotes 32-14 off the bench. In UW’s tournament opener against UTSA, Dickerson scored 16 in relief, including her 1,000th career point.

The Cowgirls also outscored Minnesota 20-9 off the bench, although the Golden Gophers only ran a seven-player rotation. Ezell sees the experience the freshmen got as invaluable while being thrilled with the opportunity to have Dickerson return for one more season.

“I told the team (after the Minnesota loss) that we can all be sad that we lost, and we’re always disappointed when the season comes to an end,” Ezell said. “But at the same time, what we did in these three weeks is nothing to hang our head on.

“We’ve got to walk around with our chins up, and know that we have an opportunity next year. If we come in with the same focus that we’ve had during these three weeks, we’ll be a team that others will have to look at.”

Fertig sees the final month of the season as an awesome moment for the freshmen on the bench. The time they saw in the postseason will have a huge impact on their confidence heading into next season.

“Our bench got a lot of minutes and experience,” Fertig said. “They did really well, and their growth is going to be big for next year.”

Added Dickerson: “The biggest thing for them is experience. COVID hit during my freshman year, but as a sophomore, the time I got was really valuable to me. Hopefully, this will be like that for them.”

Connection with the crowd

UW was able to host all three WNIT games. The crowds did not disappoint, with the announced attendance number growing as UW progressed through the bracket.

Against the Golden Gophers, the official attendance was 3,710, a 368-seat increase from the game against South Dakota.

“Any time you can play into the postseason is a bonus for your team,” Ezell said. “So much credit to our fans. They’re so awesome and always come to support.

“I know we (played South Dakota on) Good Friday, but we still had a great crowd. Then, we get the game after Easter and have a great crowd. I know if we would’ve won, we’d have a bigger crowd on Wednesday. It’s such a huge advantage to have the fans we do.”

Fertig feels like the fans make an effort to make a special connection with her and her teammates. Meeting fans after games has given the team some of their most heartfelt moments.

“It’s awesome and so much fun to talk (with the fans),” Fertig said. “Wyoming has the type of fan base to never give up on you, no matter how you’re playing.”

Knowing she wasn’t going to return, Savic made it a point to soak in the crowd and get them involved over the final month. She regularly gestured to the crowd to get louder and believes it acts as fuel for the team to play better.

“Even during the national anthem, I was looking around and thinking, ‘I hope this isn’t my last game,’” Savic said. “But if it is, the crowd really showed out, and that’s amazing.”