By Jen Connery
The women?s basketball team earned a split on the road this weekend, defeating Colorado State 59-47 in Fort Collins, Colo., before falling to the Wyoming Cowgirls 56-75, snapping a four-game Cougar winning streak.
?Colorado State was a great win for us,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “One of the best our team has ever had. The Wyoming loss was hard, but we have to learn from this loss and play our kind of game against Air Force.?
BYU pounded the Rams Thursday, earning the season sweep for the first time since 1994. The Cougars held a lopsided 31-16 advantage by halftime as CSU made just six buckets in the first period of play. The Rams found their rhythm after the break and played tight in the second half, but the damage had already been done as the Cougars cruised to the win.
The story in Laramie was quite different for BYU as the Cowgirls gave the Cougars all they could handle and more. Wyoming was on fire from beyond the arc, making 11 of 26 shots from three-point range while the Cougars made just one of 11. Despite shooting 54 percent in the first half, BYU still trailed 31-39 thanks to Wyoming?s long bombs.
Early in the second half, senior Julie Sullivan cut the lead to seven with a lay-up and sophomore Dani Kubik heated up, scoring eight points in the first six minutes, but the wheels fell off with 13:29 left in the game when Kubik was ejected for a flagrant foul.
“She [Kubik] was really hurting them inside with her strength,? Judkins said. ?The refs missed a few [Wyoming] elbows and saw Kubik throw a punch. That really stole the momentum from us.”
Wyoming responded with an 8-0 run to seal the victory.
Sullivan scored in double-digits both nights with a team-leading 16 points against CSU and 10 points against the Cowgirls. Ambrosia Anderson also reached double figures in both outings, leading the team against Wyoming with 13 and scoring 10 against the Rams. Kristen Kozlowski added 10 against CSU while Kubik finished with 10 at Wyoming.
At 14-8 overall and 5-4 in the MWC, the Cougars will return to the Marriott Center this weekend for their final home games of the season.
