Cougs focused on improving in the paint

PROVO — Nationally ranked Wyoming visits BYU today, and the No. 18 Cowgirls will look to bounce back from Wednesday's last-second home loss to Utah and to avenge a pair of regular-season losses last year to the Cougars.

Meanwhile, BYU will be looking to avoid the lengthy scoring droughts that have plagued the Cougars repeatedly this season and extend their successes against the Cowgirls.

"We've got to go out and compete and give them a run for their money," said Mallary Carling, whose 24-point outing paced BYU's 52-47 victory Wednesday over Air Force. "We've got to defend home court."

BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said his squad lacks a consistent frontcourt effort, which the Cougars used to down Wyoming twice last year.

"We don't have the inside presence we had last year that really hurt them," said Judkins, whose "bigs" struggled Wednesday at home against a lesser Air Force squad.

Frontliners Lauren Varley, Ashley Cheesman, Keilani Moeaki and Cassie King combined to shoot just 5-of-21, with Varley collecting three of the five baskets and 15 rebounds on a night when the Cougars often stood flat-footed watching loose balls.

However, Cheesman led the charge in shutting down Falcon leading scorer Alecia Steele.

Judkins will likely tab swingman Shawnee Slade to have such honors against Wyoming standout Hanna Zavecz.

Against Air Force, BYU had two first-half stretches — one of 11 minutes, the other of five — when the Cougars could muster a single basket in each.

And BYU couldn't pull away from the Falcons in the second half, never leading more than the five-point final score for its smallest winning margin in 20 overall victories over the Academy.

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Women's basketball

Wyoming (18-2, 6-1 MWC) at BYU (10-8, 4-2 MWC)
Today, 4 p.m. Marriott Center
TV: BYUTV
Radio: 96.7 FM

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E-mail: taylor@desnews.com

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