MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 7, 2026

Heather Ezell

Henna Sandvik

Malene Pedersen

Thomas & Mack Center

Wyoming Cowgirls

Postgame Press Conference

Air Force 60, Wyoming 53

THE MODERATOR: We have student-athletes Malene Pedersen and Henna Sandvik. Coach Heather Ezell, some thoughts on today's game, Coach.

HEATHER EZELL: First off, just once again, credit to Air Force for coming out and playing a heck of a basketball game. One of those games where I thought left everything on the court for us and just came down to they made a few more plays than us and came out on top, but it was hard to see the way that it ended for our seniors.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. I cover Air Force, and I've seen their defensive style for years. I guess playing against it, what is it about their activity that leads to 19 turnovers in a game like this?

MALENE PEDERSEN: I mean, Air Force has always been aggressive. They play really good defense, and they catch you off guard whenever -- every time you play them. Yeah, big credit to them, and they are a tough team to play. It's just always a challenge to figure out how to solve playing their defense.

Q. The fourth quarter when you guys pulled it within three, what was the mentality at that point? Did you feel like momentum was completely on your side at that point in the game?

MALENE PEDERSEN: I mean, we just talked about we need to keep fighting. We are never giving up. It's in our culture. We need to be tough, so sometimes it's just one stop at the time and one score at a time, and we got back in the game.

So, of course, we keep believing, and we have to. We play all 40 minutes, and that's what we're going to do.

THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes. Questions for Coach.

Q. I want to get your thoughts on Milahnie Perry. In the first half she's an established scorer at Air Force, but for her to get kind of hot the way she did, how was she able to do that, especially at 5'7"? Then what did that kind of do to the game at that point?

HEATHER EZELL: I thought she was able to just get to her spot and get what we talk about, to her sweet spot, rise up, and knock down her jumpers. We talk about how we want to try and keep players out of that spot.

Unfortunately, we were allowing her to get there, which allowed her to get hot. So we had to make some adjustments.

I thought we did a great job in the second half of limiting those. I think held her to six points in the second half, so did our job on that piece.

Q. Then your star here, what has she meant to the season? Obviously hasn't been a typical season for your program, but Malene has been there, her numbers are there. What does she bring to Wyoming?

HEATHER EZELL: Everything, she is exactly what we talk about, what Wyoming toughness is, what our program is built on. That's what I talked about in the locker room is if she taught anything to our young players and showed them anything is that this is how hard you have to work, and this is how hard it should hurt when it doesn't go your way.

She left everything on the court. There's no doubt about it. She's going to be hurting tomorrow just physically because she was all over the court, diving, whatever it might be.

That's how hard you have to play, and that's the epitome of Cowgirl toughness right there in everything that she does.