By JARED CAPSO
Playing its last WAC road game of the regular season, the BYU women's basketball team was stampeded by the Wyoming Cowgirls 77-60 Saturday in Laramie, Wyo.
The loss drops BYU's record to 8-15.
Both teams struggled from the field in the first half, shooting below 33 percent. At halftime the score was 28-16 in favor of Wyoming.
'I just don't think we were ready to play,' sophomore guard Kari Gallup said. 'We came out really flat.'
In the second half the Cowgirls led by as many as 30 points before BYU battled back to cut the lead to 17.
'I was proud of our kids for staying with it and not giving up,' BYU head coach Soni Adams said. 'We stepped up our level there at the end and cut away at their lead.'
Senior Cougar forward Kim Anderson was BYU's top scorer, dropping in 16 points in the losing effort. Anderson also gathered eight boards. Jessica Cross led Wyoming with 16 points and six rebounds.
BYU senior guard Behka Stafford played well, coach Adams said. Stafford had 11 points, two steals and was five for seven from the free throw line.
'She made some things happen for us,' Adams said. 'It was nice to have her back.'
Stafford was the Cougars' leading scorer prior to suffering a stress fracture in December.
BYU is winless on the road against WAC opponents. Last Thursday the Cougars played their best WAC road game of the year, losing by only three points to Colorado State.
'We played Colorado State really tough, but we have problems playing two tough games in a row,' Gallup said. 'It's something we have to work on.'
'We're still on that roller-coaster ride where we have some moments of brilliance and some moments where we don't play as well as I know we can,' Adams said.
Next up for the Cougars is a home game against Fresno State Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs are 10-13 overall and are ahead of BYU in the WAC standings with a 3-8 conference record. A win for the Cougars would tie them with Fresno State for last place in the WAC.