Trying to start streak
Fresh off an 89-74 loss to Utah Valley State College on Saturday, the Aggies head north to face Idaho State University for their second travel schedule of the season.
Standing on an 0-4 season, the Aggies are looking to get a winning streak started at Wednesday’s game in Pocatello, Idaho. Staying focused and remaining aware of the constructive uses of a loss is what keeps the team motivated to continue, Head Coach Raegan Pebley said.
“We show them the areas in which, if we would have done better, we could have won the game,” Pebley said. “We show them how those things are fixable. If the team looks at where they lost a game and there’s nothing they can do about it, that’s where you’ll see a team’s confidence go down. But as a coaching staff, we feel everything was completely fixable.”
Junior guard Danyelle Snelgro led the Aggies against Utah Valley with 16 points. Snelgro, senior center Jenny Gross and senior guard Jamelah Brown were the only players to reach double digits.
The Aggies’ use of bench players keeps going strong as they utilized the talents of the entire group during the game. Senior guard Taylor Richards played 30 minutes on Saturday, and every player got a chance to take the court.
Losing control and failing to execute offensive and defensive strategy allowed the Aggies to waiver, Pebley said. As they continue to learn from mistakes, the Aggies have been working on the entire package to create a better team. In general, the center of the team’s concentration is focus and discipline, she said.
“We’ve had nice practices,” Pebley said. “Things, I think, that are helping us get better. Some slight adjustments we’re doing personnel-wise. I think we’ve had great practices. I’m happy.”
Idaho State senior center Natalie Doma and senior guard Andrea Lightfoot hit their hometown court after being named to the Basketball Traveler’s Classic all-tournament team. During the tournament, held in Lubbock, Texas, the Bengals went 2-1. Overall, the team stands 3-2 on the season.
USU defeated the Bengals last season 85-83 in the Spectrum. Richards, who averages 12.5 points per game this season, scored 26 points against the Bengals in their last meeting. The Aggies will now seek out one of many capable candidates to lead the team to another victory over Idaho State.
“We just wanted to see consistent leadership,” Pebley said. “We want to see in the games that our performance and our leadership is consistently the same people. Not a role of the dice of who’s going to score points, who’s going to play defense that day. But people we can count on game in, game out.”
Wednesday’s game marks the beginning of a four-game road trip for the Aggies, ending in Salt Lake City as they face the University of Utah on Dec. 15.
-erin.wadsworth@aggiemail.usu.edu