LARAMIE - Inexperience built Wyoming a sizeable hole.

And it nearly ruined the home-opening celebration.

But apparently the Cowgirls are still too young to care.

Youthful UW struggled early after raising its first NCAA Tournament banner to the rafters on Thursday night at the Arena-Auditorium, but the Cowgirls grew up in a hurry to turn a sloppy start into an impressive 100-75 win over North Dakota.

"Patience is the key," UW coach Joe Legerski said. "I've asked patience from our fans, from our coaching staff, because that's going to happen.

"Fortunately (Thursday) we were able to get it turned around. But I don't want to start facing too many 11-point deficits in the first half because we may not be able to dig our way out of every one of them."

They did against the feisty Fighting Sioux though, exploding on a 28-4 run fueled by 24 first-half points from Emma Langford to flip that deficit into a 13-point lead going into the locker room.

The freshman forward buried six 3-pointers from all over the court, erasing UW's 12 minutes' worth of turnovers, poor shot selection and lackluster defense seemingly by herself.

The second half belonged to the rest of the Cowgirls, and three others finished in double figures to give Legerski the first 100-point game of his career.

"I guess (the start) just really made us pick it up," Langford said. "I guess that comes with experience, you know, coming together as a team and realizing that we really need to do something to stop this.

"Stop their run, pick it up on defense and try to get some turnovers and create shots at the other end."

Langford took advantage of the opportunities during the game-breaking run, then took a backseat as UW pulled away - content to boost her assist numbers and let Legerski empty his bench.

Legerski only seemed mildly annoyed Langford eased off the pedal, but he was clearly pleased to end up with a chance to have 11 Cowgirls score after stumbling out of the blocks.

"You can see the youth, the excitement," Legerski said. "The pace of the game was very fast, and North Dakota came out with a great deal of energy. I thought they shot the ball extremely well and we had to adjust to that pace of game.

"It looked like we were trying to make us one play that tries to get us back in it instead of just fighting."

Befitting their name, the Sioux did plenty of that.

North Dakota mixed a solid inside-outside attack on the offensive end with a zone defense that gave the Cowgirls trouble for a while, but eventually they cracked them both.

"I don't know exactly what it was, we just kind of came out a little bit cold," senior Megan McGuffey said. "I think North Dakota did a really good job from the get-go and pressured us and were ready to go, but luckily we got our feet under us and got things going.

"We just picked it up on the defensive end, we weren't defending them like we wanted for the first 10 minutes, we just got after it down there and started making some shots at the other end."

More than enough to add to a celebration that started before tip-off.

Contact sports reporter Austin Ward at (307) 266-0634 or austin.ward@trib.com.

Cowgirls Tracker

THURSDAY: Wyoming 100, North Dakota 75.

RECORDS: Cowgirls (2-1); Fighting Sioux (1-2).

ATTENDANCE: 2,162.

HE SAID IT: "You can see the youth, the excitement." - UW coach Joe Legerski.

UP NEXT: The Cowgirls play the second of three consecutive home games on Sunday, hosting Gonzaga at 2 p.m.

Player of the game

EMMA LANGFORD

POINTS: 26 w ASSISTS: 6 w STEALS: 3

BEYOND THE STATS: The freshman forward could have done even more damage, but she backed off the gas after pouring in 24 first-half points to turn an 11-point deficit into a 13-point lead by halftime.

NORTH DAKOTA'S BEST: Danye Guinn was almost perfect from beyond the arc, but the senior guard's 26 points weren't enough for the Fighting Sioux.

TURNING POINT

Time: 5:23

SCORE: Tied at 34.

WHAT HAPPENED: Emma Langford tied the game with a free throw, missed the second - then lit the nets on fire during a 28-4 run going into halftime.

Langford kept the barrage going single-handedly with three 3-pointers in a row over the next two minutes.

AFTER THAT: The Cowgirls cruised into halftime and never looked back, finishing with four players in double figures and a 25-point win that could have been bigger.

AND QUOTE

"Patience is the key." - UW coach Joe Legerski.