LARAMIE, Wyo. — A trio of Wyoming Cowgirls — Allyson Fertig, Quinn Weidemann and Malene Pedersen — all took home All-Mountain West honors when the conference announced end-of-year recognitions today.
Fertig and Weidemann were both named to the All-Mountain West Team for the first time in their careers, with Weidemann also being named to the league’s All-Defensive Team for the third time in her UW career. It marks the first time since 2018-19 that two Cowgirls were named to the all-league team.
Pedersen, meanwhile, was Wyoming’s second consecutive student-athlete to be named Mountain West Freshman of the Year, following Fertig in the prior season. She was also named on the All-Freshman Team.
Fertig finished third in the league in scoring, averaging 15.7 points per game. Her field goal percentage of 63.4% was tops in the Mountain West, and she was fourth-best rebounder in the conference, pulling down an average of 8.1 boards per contest. She also proved to be an elite shot blocker, and finished second with 2.1 blocks per game. Fertig scored more than 20 points six times this year, including one particularly hot stretch near the end of the season where she reached 20 in four straight games.
Weidemann, who averaged 11.4 points per game, emerged as one of the top long-range threats in the Mountain West by making 1.4 3-pointers per game while shooting better than 35% from beyond the arc. She had 10 games where she scored in double figures.
Weidemann shined on both sides of the court, and became the first Cowgirl and just the second player in league history to be named to the all-defensive team at least three times. Weidemann helped lead the third-ranked defense in the league, allowing just 61.8 points per game. And she was the squad’s primary defender, routinely being tasked with hounding the opponents’ best scorers. Over the course of conference play, she held seven of the league’s top-15 scorers and five of the top-nine below their scoring average.
Pedersen, meanwhile, led all Mountain West freshmen in scoring and assists. She joined Weidemann with an average of 11.4 points per game, and was 10th in the league with 2.6 assists per contest. Pedersen shot 49% from the floor and 91.5% from the free throw line in Mountain West games. She was named the league’s Freshman of the Week five times over the course of the season, and had 12 games in double figures.
The trio — and the rest of the second-seeded Cowgirls — open Mountain West Tournament action Monday at 6 p.m., against the winner of tonight’s game between Air Force and San Jose State.
