Women’s basketball can’t handle 49ers at home
After 15 minutes of play, Camille Brox scored the first point for the Utah State women’s basketball team, and brought the score to 1-23.
The Aggies shot only 8 percent for the first half in their 36-63 loss to Long Beach State Saturday night in the Spectrum.
“We did what we needed to do defensively,” head coach Raegan Pebley said. “We held them to 63 with kids playing that don’t play a whole lot of minutes for us.
“We just didn’t score.”
USU’s five leading scorers combined for only one point in the first half – a free throw from Brittany Tressler.
Utah State was 0-18 until it got its first points off Brox’s free throw. The Ags were 0-19 before they made their first field goal, a 3-pointer from Kahlie Quinones with a little more than four minutes left to play in the first half. The Aggies finished the half with nine points and 14 turnovers.
During the first half, every time the Aggies touched the ball on offense, they did something wrong. The half was full of more than just missed baskets – there were plenty of charging fouls called on the Ags as well as traveling and shot clock violations on both ends of the court.
During the second half, the Aggies continued to have trouble getting anything to go their way. At one point during the half, the team got a technical foul called on it when Camille Brox was called for a charge and the team, coaches and fans yelled at the referees for several minutes
“[We were] not able to hit any shots and getting rushed out of our offense,” Quinones said. “That’s something that you never want to have to do. [We talked about] coming back out and, if they’re going to win, make them earn it.”
The second half was slightly better for the Aggies, with the team improving to 28 percent from the floor.
Tressler led the way for the Aggies with nine points while Quinones put up eight points.
Jayme Connors led the way for the 49ers with 15 points and nine rebounds. Jeannie Saunders, who finished the game with 12 points, was the only LBSU player in double digits.
Despite the poor showing on offense, USU kept up a strong defense throughout the game, forcing 26 turnovers by the 49ers. Quinones said the team was reminded they should play with their whole hearts because of the red hearts the team was wearing on its jerseys.
“[The hearts were] not only for Anne-Marie Torp, who had heart surgery,” she said, “but just as a reminder to us that this could be taken away tomorrow. And also, when you step out on that court and you put that jersey on, regardless of what team you’re on, you play with all your heart.”
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu
Taylor Richards drives around Long Beach´s Jeannie Saunders Saturday night. (Photo by John Zsiray)