Lady hoopsters drop home game to New Mexico State
The Utah Jazz syndrome of playing well but not finishing the game was passed on to the Utah State women’s basketball team in their loss Thursday to New Mexico State 48-55.
“We just couldn’t score,” Head Coach Raegan Pebley said. “We went through a couple of really bad drives.”
The fact that they lost their two senior posts didn’t help either. Ali Marchant went down late in the first half and was out for the rest of the game with a mild concussion.
One replacement for Marchant was sophomore Jenny Gross who made eight points.
“It’s something that we don’t hope to do a whole lot,” said Pebley about having to substitute Gross in for Marchant.
Jessica Freeman also left the game with a sprained ankle in the second half.
The first half started slowly, with the first points being free throws by Marchant, who also scored the first five for the team. Overall, the team shot 54.5 percent from the line to New Mexico’s 65 percent.
Two shots from 3-point land pushed USU from a nine-point deficit to three. Marchant then took matters into her own hands, scoring four points in the next 30 seconds, which gave the Aggies a one-point lead.
While trying to block an opposing player, Marchant was pushed, causing her to hit her head on the court.
“You’ve got to be prepared for anything in basketball,” senior Ashley Rutledge said about losing the two players. “You can’t blame the game on that at all. You never know any given night what will happen.”
Rutledge made 13 points for the team, with three of the shots being 3-pointers. She was the only player in double figures.
The first half ended at 20-24 in favor of New Mexico.
The half started great for New Mexico, but the Aggies quickly adjusted their game with some full-court pressure. The pressure worked as Freeman managed to rebound a missed shot by Rutledge and then made the layup. Junior Camille Brox then followed with her own layup. Although she was also fouled and didn’t make the free-throw, her layup tied the game 30-30.
Freeman said the team really needs to improve on offense and free-throws. “I feel really good about our defence and rebounds,” she said.
The teams were head to head, but with 7:54 left on the clock, the Utah State bench was charged with a technical foul.
“He made the call he thought was right,” Pebley said of the official. She said that she was yelling for a time-out and the official was signaling a time-out, but was whistling at the same time.
New Mexico pressured the Aggies as they fouled both Gross and Richards. Both made one of two free-throws.
The game ended at 48-55 in favor of New Mexico and bumped the Aggies to their 11th-straight loss.
The team’s next home game is Saturday against Louisiana Tech. They will play both teams again next week.
-vramirez@usu.edu
Aggie Camille Brox tries to drive around a New Mexico State player Thursday night in the Spectrum. The Aggies lost 48-55. (Tyler Larson)