2011-12 team has sole possession of school record for most wins in a season
With a victory over Idaho on Feb. 25, the Utah State women’s basketball team tied a school record for wins in a season. Thursday, the Aggies wrote themselves into the school record book with an 85-64 win over Hawaii — their 19th win of the season.
“That’s a big deal,” senior forward Ashlee Brown said. “Making history is always a great thing. It’s the mentality of our team, and it’s a great honor to be part of the team that broke that record.”
Once the Aggies got going, they did little wrong. Brown scored Utah State’s first four points and fell just shy of a triple-double, finishing with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.
Defense led to offense as the Aggies scored 17 points off of 13 first-half turnovers by the Wahine. Hawaii finished the half shooting 29.2 percent from the field, compared to 48 percent for USU, who went into the break with a 40-23 lead.
Utah State finished with 27 assists on 29 field goals. Led by Brown, eight of 12 players recorded an assist for USU and five players finished with at least three assists in the game.
“What makes our offense work so well is how we played in the first half defensively,” head coach Raegan Pebley said. “I loved how it was total commitment on the defensive end. Different people got different stops.”
Junior guard Devyn Christensen hit a 3-pointer to close the first half and picked up where she left off to start the second. The Western Athletic Conference’s leading scorer hit back-to-back 3-pointers on the first two possessions, and Utah State led by 23 with two minutes into the half, but Hawaii didn’t quit. The Wahine chipped away at the deficit and used an 8-0 run midway through the second half to pull within 11.
That was as close as Hawaii got.
“Hawaii is a good team, that’s why they made a run,” Pebley said. “They were shooting really hot in the second half. We had to make some adjustments. We went to man and put ourselves in better position to defend in the post and out on the perimeter. That helped us finish.”
Senior guard Brooke Jackson hit a 3-pointer to spark an 8-0 run by USU, and Brown added five straight points to push the lead to 19 with eight minutes to play. The teams traded runs over the next four and a half minutes, as the Wahine pulled to within 12 on two separate occasions. But each time Hawaii sparked, Utah State responded to put the game away.
The Aggie defense proved too much for the Wahine, who committed 20 turnovers that led to 33 points for USU. Hawaii forced 10 turnovers, but scored eight points off of the Utah State miscues.
Three players scored at least 19 points for the Aggies, as Christensen finished with a game-high 23 points, Brown had 21 and Jackson added 19. Hawaii senior forward Breanna Arbuckle finished with 18 points, and sophomore forward Kamilah Jackson had 17 to lead the Wahine.
“It was a good game all around,” Brown said. “Everyone was finishing. We did well at taking care of the ball, and our defense fueled it all. When we share the ball, we have more fun.”
Utah State improved to 19-8 overall this season and clinched the No. 2 seed for the WAC tournament with a 10-3 record in conference play. Hawaii fell to 11-17 overall with a 6-7 conference record.
Senior Night for USU will be Saturday when San Jose State visits the Spectrum. The Aggies will look to tie another school record — 11 conference wins in a season.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu