Women basketball prepare for conference home stand
Since Utah State women’s basketball team was picked to finish last in their conference, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. So far this season, it has been a real learning process for Head Coach Raegan Pebley and her team.
The preseason was tough, both physically and mentally, on the team. The girls looked to come out strong, but they have had a tough time.
Pebley believes that her team has struggled because they have had an extremely tough preseason schedule playing against teams like Western Michigan that have had votes in the Top 25.
However, it has prepared the team for some tough conference playing.
The season started with four straight losses for the women, some more painful than others. They were ahead of Northern Colorado until they lost by three in overtime. The team proved that they could win in an exhibition game against UVSC.
Though the game is not official on the records, it was important to the team, showing them that they can win. The team was looking for more wins, but they had some more tough teams coming up, including Western Michigan, and more painful losses.
Although it doesn’t seem like the women’s basketball team is going to do very well in the conference, Pebley knows that her girls can be fourth in their conference.
“[Pebley] told us that we can be fourth in our conference, and I believe her,” said freshman guard Terrin Johnston after the Weber State game.
Although basketball can’t be played on paper, stats show that Utah State is not being completely dominated by opposing teams.
USU still has some tough competition, and will need to play good basketball and make few mistakes to compete in conference.
The Aggies played Idaho State on Jan. 3 and lost, but they gave the 9-1 Vandals a run for their money. The Aggies took a lead into the locker room for the first time in regular season play, even though they were supposed to be far behind the leading team in the conference.
Idaho’s Emily Faurholt leads the nation in scoring average at 24.9 points per game, and her teammate Leilani Mitchell is second at 17 per game, though she did not play against USU because of a sore back.
The duo leads the conference individually in many areas. The Vandals lead the conference in many areas that Utah State is weak in. Three-point shots are ISU’s strength, something that USU needs to work on before it plays Idaho at home in February.
Other tough games for the Aggies will be against UC Santa Barbara (7-4), Cal Poly (5-5) and Long Beach State (4-6).
These teams are strong in areas that the Aggie women need to work on, mainly outside shots. USU is last in the conference in three-point field goals. However, none of these teams have many players that are much stronger than those from USU, although they may have a little more depth than the Aggies have shown in their early games. UCSB’s Lindsay Taylor is a key player and averages only one more point than USU’s Ali Aird.
Although USU is listed last in the conference in scoring margin, they are strong in other areas. They are third in free throw percentage and offensive rebounds and fifth in blocked shots. Aird is doing well in the conference individually. After the game against ISU, she was ninth in the conference in scoring averaging at 13.2 per game and had the highest field goal percentage with .617.
She was also 13th in rebounding, averaging six per game, second in free throw percentage at .833, sixth in blocked shots, averaging .78 per game and eighth in offensive rebounding, averaging 2.56 per game.
Jessica Freeman is fifth in the conference in blocked shots, averaging one per game. Christina Zdenek is sixth in the conference in three-point field goal percentage at .370.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu