Lady Ags to take on San Jose State without coach Pebley
Assistant Coach George Brosky will act as head coach for the lady Aggies in San Jose, Calif. this Saturday for their second meeting with the San Jose State University Spartans.
Head Coach Raegan Pebley will be unable to make the trip as she gave birth to her second child, a daughter, last Tuesday. Although she will not be with the team as they take on the Spartans, she plans on traveling to Las Cruces, N.M., for their first game against New Mexico State University.
San Jose remains 2-20 overall this season, with a 1-7 record in the Western Athletic Conference. Their previous meeting with the Aggies ended in their defeat as the game closed at 58-50 in favor of USU.
A 57-56 Spartan win against the University of Hawaii’s Rainbow Wahine on Jan. 25 ended a seven-game losing streak and gave the Spartans their lone win in WAC play. New Mexico State was next for the lady Spartans, but a loss of more than 20 points leaves them at the bottom of the WAC standings.
Coming off two consecutive losses – 80-38 against Boise State University and 62-57 against the Rainbow Wahine – the Aggies have been getting into practice and experiencing that execution offensively, Brosky said. This allows the team the confidence they need to move onto their next challenge, he said.
“Offensively we haven’t been scoring or shooting at the percentage we’d like,” Brosky said, “so we worked a lot this week on some adjustments. It’s just a confidence issue. It’s seeing it a lot, being successful with it in practice and then applying that in games.”
As the Aggies prepare for their next competition at San Jose’s Event Center, some offensive change-ups will be put into play to counteract some defensive strategies USU noticed of the Spartans during their last meeting, Brosky said.
“We were pretty successful with the game plan,” Brosky said, “so as a staff we feel that it worked well. We’ve just got to execute a little bit better. Pretty much everything is going to stay the same.”
USU’s record stands at 7-12 overall and 3-4 in the WAC, putting them at number six in the WAC standings. Bringing in more wins this year than last, the Aggies continue to bring something new to the athletic scene at USU.
“We’re happy with the progress that the program is making,” Brosky said. “We’re obviously better record-wise than last year. But outside of the record, we’re better at everything, I think. Our execution, our focus is better than it was last year.”
This game will be the first of three on the road for the Aggies. Next up are the Aggies of New Mexico State on Feb. 5 after which USU will take on the University of Idaho Vandals on Feb. 10 in Moscow, Idaho.
-eawads@cc.usu.edu