Fertig's double-double powers Cowgirls into WNIT's Great 8

The Cowgirls outscored South Dakota 54-20 in the paint and 32-14 off the bench. 

"I think we are all upset and thought the Mountain West tournament ended too early," Fertig said. "None of us wanted it to end, so a lot of the older girls have been encouraging the younger girls to keep playing the way they have."

The Cowgirls dominated the opening quarter, outscoring the Coyotes 24-13 through the first 10 minutes of action. In the second quarter, both offenses fell dormant, with the Cowgirls committing four turnovers in a span of 3 minutes, 20 seconds. 

"We knew from the get go that we wanted to work through Allyson and Marta," UW coach Heather Ezell said. "They've shown with teams in the past that have good post players that they are willing to double. At first, they didn't do that tonight, making easy work for us."

Despite a drought of 4:02 without a field goal in the second frame, the Cowgirls still shot relatively well with an 8-of-14 mark from the field in the period.

"We understood what was working and said, 'Hey, we're not going to settle for three,'" Ezell said. "We've become so mature and were able to execute our game plan of getting inside."

South Dakota failed to get back into striking distance and hit just two field goals — both 3-pointers — in the second quarter. Senior McKinley Dickerson went on a personal 5-0 run to end UW's cold spell, followed by layups from sophomore Malene Pedersen and junior Emily Mellema to close the half on a 9-0 run.

"The cohesion speaks to how well the motion is playing right now," Ezell said. "We're making the right reads and passes with the confidence to knock them down. 

"For the past couple games, we've been playing with a chip on our shoulder. We're not happy with the way the Mountain West (tournament) ended, and we've got something to prove." 

The third quarter has been when the Cowgirls have allowed teams to creep back in at times this season, but that wasn't an issue against South Dakota. UW outscored the Coyotes 22-17 in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

"It was great," Savic said. "The biggest issue we've had all year was not coming out in the second half swinging. I'm very glad to see that we did."

South Dakota made 27-of-28 (96%) free throws in its previous WNIT game against Northern Arizona. After going 4-of-4 in the first half, the Coyotes made getting to the line a priority in the second. 

"That was a concern from the start," Savic said. "We didn't want to put them at the free-throw line, because they get so many points from there. There was a moment in the third where we just weren't executing.

"We were going for too many blocks and steals and started to foul."

South Dakota attempted 16 free throws in the third quarter alone. Carley Duffney led the Coyotes at 9-of-12 from the line over that span.

Fertig was too much for South Dakota to handle down the stretch. The junior added 12 points and six rebounds in the third period to reach the double-double mark heading into the fourth.

The Cowgirls wasted no time in the final quarter, racing out to a 4-0 run to force a South Dakota timeout. The Coyotes' struggles continued before Olivia Kieffer made the team's first basket of the frame with 6:31 left to play.

The Cowgirls put the game out of reach with a dominant 13-0 run to build a 41-point lead. South Dakota ended the game on a 9-0 run, but the early deficit was too much to overcome in the final minutes.

On top of Fertig, the Cowgirls had four other players score in double digits, including Savic with 14 points, Dickerson with 12, Mellema with 11 and Pedersen with 10.

"I have to give a lot of props to coach," Savic said. "She dedicated the game to me and said everyone is playing for me to have the chance to keep playing. I appreciate the team showing up for me."

South Dakota was led by Duffney with 20 points, 11 of which game at the free-throw line.

"We knew she'd be a tough one, but our focus was on (Grace) Larkins tonight," Ezell said. "That probably opened Duffney up a bit. With Larkins, our plan was to put our All-Mountain West defender (Mellema) on her.

"(Mellema) is a 6-foot-tall guard with a wingspan a lot longer than that. She has a knack for the ball, and she's able to use her basketball IQ to get things done on that end."

UW (18-14 overall) will move on to host Minnesota (19-15) in the Great 8 of the WNIT at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Arena-Auditorium.

"I know they've got some great players," Fertig said. "We've got to be prepared for that, and I'm excited we get to play here again. It shows how dedicated our fans are to have over 3,000 show up, and it's a little intimidating to the other team.

"If we weren't going to have our fans show up, we'd travel to Minnesota. Our fan base gets up no matter who we play."

WYOMING 84, USD 52

South Dakota...... 13 10 17 12 — 52

Wyoming...... 24 17 22 21 — 84

Wyoming: Mellema 5-13 0-0 11, Barnes 1-3 0-0 3, Pedersen 3-7 2-2 10, Ustowska 2-4 0-0 4, Fertig 11-14 2-2 24, Symons 1-1 1-1 3, Ollilainen 1-3 0-0 3, McKenna 0-2 0-0 0, Savic 6-7 2-2 14, Dickerson 5-10 0-0 12. Totals: 35-64 7-7 84.

South Dakota: Avila-Ambrosi 1-2 0-0 3, Duffney 4-10 11-14 20, Larkins 4-14 4-6 12, Mazurek 0-3 0-0 0, Hempe 1-8 0-0 3, Kieffer 2-4 0-0 6, Hansen 0-3 0-0 0, Deperry 3-10 2-2 8, Grange 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-55 17-22 52.

3-pointers: USD 5-21 (Avila-Ambrosi 1-2, Duffney 1-3, Larkins 0-2, Mazurek 0-3, Hempe 1-5, Kieffer 2-2, Hansen 0-3, Deperry 0-1); UW 7-21 (Mellema 1-5, Barnes 1-2, Pedersen 2-3, Ustowska 0-2, Ollilainen 1-1, McKenna 0-2, Dickerson 2-6). Rebounds: USD 32 (Larkins 8); UW 40 (Fertig 11). Assists: USD 7 (Larkins 4), UW 19 (Mellema 4, Symons 4); Turnovers: USD 9 (Mazurek 3); UW 7 (Fertig 2, Ollilainen 2). Steals: USD 4 (Four with 1); UW 5 (Five with 1). Blocks: USD 1 (Larkins 1), UW 5 (Fertig 2). Team fouls: UTSA 12, UW 15.

Attendance: 3,342.