The Wyoming Cowgirls put together an impressive start-to-finish contest Saturday afternoon, handing South Dakota its first loss of the season. The Cowgirls, who led for over 32 minutes of the contest, came away with a 66-59 victory in their non-conference home finale.

"I thought we were able to carry over our confidence from Tuesday's win," said Head Coach Heather Ezell.

Wyoming got off to a quick start, opening the scoring with back-to-back layups. The Cowgirls got their first three hoops on layups, off Henna Sandvik assists. USD would battle back to take its first lead of the game before the media timeout as things were tied 8-8 at the first timeout. Following the timeout, both teams played strong defense as the two traded the lead before the end of the quarter. UW led 12-11 after one.

The two teams traded a pair of free throws to begin the second quarter before Malene Pedersen got a couple of layups to fall to put Wyoming up 18-15. From there, both squads started trading hoops before back-to-back 3-pointers from Jane Rumpf and Lana Beslic forced a Coyote timeout with the Cowgirls leading 27-21 with 4:20 remaining in the half. After the timeout, the South Dakota offense got going but timely Wyoming baskets helped it maintain a 32-29 halftime lead.

Logann Alvar started the second half like she did the first, getting the Cowgirls a hoop. Layups from Pedersen and Alvar pushed the Wyoming lead to 38-29 with 6:55 left in the third as USD called a timeout. Out of the timeout, both teams traded points back-and-forth before the Coyotes were able to cut the deficit down to 43-38 at the media timeout. The rest of the quarter, the two teams traded baskets as Wyoming led 48-43 going to the fourth.

After the Cowgirls got the first four points of the fourth, USD started battling back once again. The Coyotes went on a run as the UW offense went cold before a Sandvik turnaround jumper and Beslic reverse layup put Wyoming back up 58-51 with 3:33 left to play as South Dakota called a timeout. After the timeout, the Cowgirls committed three straight turnovers.

Out of a timeout, the Cowgirls turned it over again but were able to get a stop on the other end. An Alvar layup ended the Wyoming drought with 49.2 to go. After another defensive stop, Pedersen knocked down a pair at the line as the lead was 62-55 Cowgirls. USD got a quick hoop on the other end before Payton Muma hit two more at the stripe. UW advanced the ball with a timeout with 6.2 left after another Coyote layup before Pedersen salted the game away with more free throws.

Next up for the Cowgirls will be a trip to face Colorado Sunday, December 7 for a 1 p.m., contest.