Cowgirls Outlast Hardrockers in Final Exhibition

UW outscores South Dakota Mines by 16 in final 15 minutes

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 30, 2026) – It was a hard-fought game, that took an extra five minutes, but in the end, the Wyoming Cowgirls came out victorious Friday night, 65-60 over South Dakota Mines. Friday was Wyoming’s final exhibition before the regular season tips off Monday night.

Like she did Monday night in Wyoming’s first exhibition, Norah Clark once again provided the Cowgirls’ first points Friday. A Taylor Donaldson putback gave UW its first lead in the opening minutes of the game. The Cowgirls led 9-5 at the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, South Dakota Mines got its offense going a bit, reclaiming the lead. The Hardrockers held the lead after one.

Turnovers hurt Wyoming to begin the second quarter as both teams’ offenses were uneven. The Cowgirls got plenty of open looks in the frame but struggled to get them to fall before. Eventually, UW got its offense going toward the end of the half. However, SDM continued its efficient offense as well and led at halftime.

The Cowgirls came out firing to open the second half, much like they did Monday night. UW also made multiple trips to the free-throw line but were inconsistent in making them, as South Dakota Mines continued to keep the up the pressure on the offensive end particularly. Following the third quarter media timeout, the two teams traded layups before the Hardrockers continued to find their rhythm, especially from beyond-the-arc. UW strung together some stops and scores to end the third.

Kati Ollilainen helped spark the Cowgirls to begin the fourth, but SDM kept hitting timely shots to stay in front. A trio of Donaldson layups kept the Wyoming offense going later in the frame. Both teams started trading hoops as the pace picked up in the latter stages of the contest. UW took a timeout with 2:14 remaining and the game tied at 55-55. Following the timeout, both teams got multiple defensive stops before another Cowgirl timeout with 13.5 left. After the timeout, a Wyoming miss was followed by a SDM miss and the exhibition went to overtime.

Overtime began with an Ollilainen driving layup followed by a Jersey Berg lay-in. After another Berg layup, the Hardrockers would get two at the free-throw line before a defensive stop by each team. Following two at the line from Ophelia Powell, the Cowgirls would get another stop and then another at the charity stripe. South Dakota Mines would follow that with a timeout with 29.3 to go and would make a free throw before sending UW back to the line for another free throw as the Cowgirls closed out the game.

Donaldson and Ollilainen led Wyoming in scoring, both finishing in double figures while Ollilainen was a rebound shy of a double-double. Liv Blomkvist once again led the Cowgirls in rebounding. Berg and Clark led UW in assists, who had 16 as a team.

Wyoming outscored the Hardrockers by eight in the paint and got 23 points from its bench. Both teams scored well off opponent turnovers. The Cowgirls had a slight edge in team rebounds on the night and held SDM to 36-percent shooting from the floor and 7-of-26 from beyond-the-arc. UW went to the free-throw line 23 times in the win.

Next up, the season starts for real as Santa Clara comes to Laramie Monday night, November 2 at 6:30 for the regular season opener.

Watch Wyoming Athletics all season long on the MW+ with all UW home games and all MW conference games on the state-of-the-art app. Fans will also find replays of games, Ragtime Replays featuring great contests in Wyoming history along with other exclusive content. A majority of each subscription purchased through Wyoming's dedicated page will directly support Wyoming Athletics and the Cowboy Joe Club, creating a scalable and sustainable revenue opportunity aligned with fan engagement.

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