Cowgirls Fall to Lady Bears

Ollilainen scores a career-high 

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 7, 2026) – Kati Ollilainen scored a career-high 17 points, all in the first half, but it was not enough as Missouri State’s presence inside and on the glass proved too much for the Wyoming Cowgirls Saturday night at home as the Lady Bears won 72-37. After a solid start offensively for Wyoming, the Cowgirls struggled in the second half, scoring just eight points in the game’s final 20 minutes.

After Missouri State got the first three points of the contest, UW countered right back with the next six to take an early lead. The Cowgirls hit three of their first four from 3-point range Saturday and held a 12-5 lead at the first media timeout. Following the timeout, the two teams traded tough shots before turnovers started to hurt Wyoming as the Lady Bears clawed back to cut the UW lead down to 14-13 after the first. The Cowgirls missed their final four 3-point attempts of the quarter.

Ollilainen opened the second with a corner 3-pointer before Missouri State got the offense going and regained the lead since the early minutes of the game. The Cowgirls got another couple of good looks from beyond-the-arc that rattled halfway down and out. The Lady Bears led 21-17 at the media timeout. After the media, the Missouri State run continued as it lengthened the lead to six before an Ollilainen driving layup, followed by another 3-pointer from her. Ollilainen had the first 13 points of the quarter for the Cowgirls as she was unconscious offensively in the frame. The Lady Bears crashed the offensive glass in the second, however, and that helped them build a 35-29 lead at halftime.

The Lady Bears picked up in the third where they left off in the second quarter, hitting the offensive glass and scoring inside the paint. Missouri State was up by double digits at the media timeout, 43-31. After the timeout, the Lady Bears continued to build their lead as the UW offense struggled in the quarter. MSU led 54-33 after three.

The Wyoming offense continued to sputter in the fourth as the Lady Bears remained in control. Missouri State led 60-33 at the media timeout. Out of the timeout, Ophelia Powell got on the board with a tough driving layup. The rest of the game saw MSU continue to play well as UW played a lot of reserves down the stretch.

Missouri State outscored the Cowgirls 46-8 in points in the paint and had a 48-22 rebounding advantage. The Lady Bears outscored UW 16-2 in second-chance points and forced 15 Cowgirl turnovers.

Wyoming shot just 25-percent (12-for-48) on the night and went 6-for-25 (24-percent) from beyond-the-arc. MSU shot 30-of-61 (49.2-percnet) and hit 6-of-14 from deep. The Cowgirls shot 7-of-9 at the free-throw line.

Norah Clark added eight points to be Wyoming’s second-highest scorer behind Ollilainen. Taylor Donaldson led the Cowgirls with three assists and had two steals. Hayley Johnson paced Wyoming with five rebounds and had a block in the loss.

The Cowgirls return home Tuesday, November 10 as UT Arlington comes to the AA for a 6:30 p.m., tip.

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