Women hoopster lose with head coach absent
Making their Western Athletic Conference play all even at 2-2, the lady Aggies suffered a 69-54 loss to Louisiana Tech on Monday evening in Ruston, La.
Assistant Coach George Brosky took the head coach role as Head Coach Reagan Pebley would not travel, her pregnancy playing a major role in that decision. No practice tactics were changed in preparation for the game, Pebley said after the Aggies defeated Idaho last Thursday.
Barreling down on the first half, the Lady Techsters started up with a 10-4 lead early on. USU found their way to a 10-10 tie with a steal of the basketball from sophomore guard Danyelle Snelgro. Following the tie-up, La Tech managed to stay on top as they went into half-time with a 32-27 lead.
Shooting a 39 field goal percentage, the Aggies were only 23-of-59. Compared to the 43.8 field goal percentage of the Lady Techsters, USU could not find their way to the front of the pack in the second half.
Both senior forward Brittany Phillips and junior forward Jenny Gross added 12 points to the team effort, while junior guard Taylor Richards offered her 10 points and season-high 7 assists.
The Lady Techsters dished out a 12-of-3 run to pull the score to 44-30 in their favor. With the Aggies fighting to gain the win, shots by Richards and sophomore forward Lindsay Freeze spurred the ladies onward, but only allowed them as close as 46-41.
By the time the final buzzer was sound, the Lady Techsters had found victory and added another win to their WAC conference record, taking them to 3-1.
USU will be at home in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum for Saturday night’s game against San Jose State. They will then play Boise State University on Jan. 24.
-eawads@cc.usu.edu