Three Cowgirl Basketball Student-Athletes Earn Academic All-District Honors

GREENWOOD, Ind. (March 26, 2024) – A trio of Wyoming Cowgirl basketball student-athletes were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team, announced Tuesday by the organization.

Tess Barnes, Allyson Fertig and Emily Mellema were all selected for the honor.

Fertig and Mellema were named to the all-district squad for the second consecutive year while it was the first honor for Barnes. In order to be selected to the all-district team, a student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or better and be a starter of significant contributor off the bench. All three have started in all 31 games this season for Wyoming.

Barnes is averaging 9.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game this season and leads the Cowgirls with 58 made 3-pointers this season. Her 1.87 3-pointers made per game rank 12th in the Mountain West while her 35-percent shooting from beyond-the-arc leads UW. Barnes has scored in double figures 11 times this season and has 15 games with multiple made threes.

Fertig, who was an All-Mountain West Team honoree this season for the second straight season, leads the Cowgirls and ranks in the top-five in the Mountain West in scoring (13.8 PPG), rebounding (8.2 RPG) and blocks (1.6 BPG) per game. Fertig leads the league with a 60-percent field goal percentage this season. Fertig has a team-best 11 double-doubles this season.

Mellema, who was named to the All-Mountain West Defensive Team, is averaging 8.9 points per game this season and is tied for the team lead with 94 assists and has a team-high 42 steals. Mellema ranks sixth in the league with a 1.68 assist-to-turnover ratio and has six contests with five-plus assists.

The trio and the rest of the Cowgirls will play in the Super 16 Round of the WNIT later this week against either Northern Arizona or South Dakota.