Aggie women face Wyoming in second round of tourney

LAS VEGAS (The Utah Statesman) — After last night’s near-loss to Colorado State in the opening round of the Mountain West tournament, the Utah State women’s basketball team is ready to take on Wyoming in the second round.

The Aggies and the Cowgirls split the two regular season meetings with both teams winning at home. In the first meeting Utah State was able to hold a usually lethal Wyoming team to just 42 points and 32.7 percent shooting. Utah State’s defense smothered Wyoming, forcing 17 turnovers, nine of which came off steals.

In the second meeting Utah State was able to hold Wyoming to another poor shooting night, only this time they weren’t able to come away with the win. Wyoming was able to limit its turnovers and make its free-throws while the Aggies went 0-for-8 from three and shot just 32.6 percent overall. All-conference senior forward Marta Gomez had 17 points for the Cowgirls in the win. Wyoming has been one of the more consistent teams in the conference all season, starting the same five players in all 27 games this season.

Utah State junior forward Hailey Bassett had two of her best games of the season against Wyoming, scoring 11 and 14 points. In Utah State’s 50-42 win junior forward Shannon Dufficy scored nearly half the team’s points on the night. Dufficy had 24 points and 14 rebounds and was able to help the Aggies hold Wyoming to its lowest score of the season. Although Wyoming is one of the premier three-point shooting teams in the nation, the Aggies were able to force its defense on the Cowgirls in an effective way.

Wyoming finished the season with a 20-7 record and the third seed in the conference tournament. But with Utah State on a five game win-streak and having won against the Cowgirls once already this season, this shouldn’t be a runaway for either team.

Twitter: @dren_sports