Basketball team wins in exhibition play
For a squad that finished 5-22 last season, things are looking up for the Utah State women’s basketball team.
The Aggie’s 82-55 win over the Utah Showcase showed that this season’s team is off to a far better start.
“Last year, we never really had many opportunities to put people away,” head coach Raegan Pebley said. “We were just playing the games to stay alive and to stay in the game.”
“It’s something that we really haven’t experienced yet,” sophomore Brittany Tressler said. “I think it really builds our confidence and lets us know that we can be a dominant team just like any other team in our conference.”
However, taken in context, the large lead at the end of the game was not due so much to the way Aggies played as it was to the team they played. Showcase, an all-star team made up of former collegiate players from six different colleges and universities, had only seven players.
The lack of substitutions wasn’t a problem during the first half for Showcase, when the team was shooting 50 percent. At one point, the Aggies were down by 10 points. The Showcase team was especially strong from behind the arc, making six 3-pointers in the first half alone.
Leading the way for Showcase was Katie Miller, current Utah State team manager and radio color analyst, with 19 points, 15 from behind the arc. Casey Cooke also had 19 points for Showcase.
“We knew that they were really going to be tired and out of shape,” Tressler said, “so we just felt like we could just run them to the ground. And, we did.”
For the first time, every player on the Aggie roster was able to score. Ali Aird, in an improved performance from last week, led the way for Utah State with 18 points. Taylor Richards and Brittany Tressler had 13 and 11 points repectively.
“Tressler is a pretty mature player, very steady,” Pebley said. “Sometimes she comes across to other players as lethargic but she is just very deliberate and somewhat crafty, I think. She surprises people. She plays with such a steadiness offensively and defensively.”
Christina Zdenek, who averaged 12 points last season, had another low-key game with only seven points. Tracee [Kennington] Higham scored her first points of her college career, finishing the night with five.
“Felt pretty good,” Higham said. “It’s good to get a win in. It’s a good chance to get out there and prove to ourself that we can beat teams and play together.”
“It was actually kind of a surprise that we played as well as we did because we haven’t had a good week of practices,” Pebley said. “We had to make huge adjustments of how we were going to defend them on the screens. I think our kids made those good adjustments at half time.”
Pebley added that the Aggies were able to improve on their play from last week by handling the ball better and on adjusting their defense at the half to block all the outside shots. During the second half, the Ags held Showcase to just 16 percent shooting, letting them score only once on two free throws in the last seven minutes of play.
“I think rebounding, taking care of the ball and our second half adjustments really made the difference,” Pebley said. “I was a lot happier with the way we finished and started half compared to how we were last week.”
However, despite the improvement from the last game, Pebley knows that the team still has a lot it can improve on.
“We need to develop a killer instinct as a team,” she said. “And, that is going to be our challenge as a team in the preseaon.”
Overall, the Aggie team is happy with its performance in its first two games.
“It’s good to start out with some wins going into games that count,” Higham said, “especially in-state games, and show people that we’ve grown up.”
Utah State will start the regular season on Nov. 19 when they host Weber State University. Last season, the Ags fell to the Wildcats 71-50 in Ogden.
“We’re going to be ready,” Tressler said. “We’re definitely looking for revenge from last year.”
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu