Late game heroics from Livingston lift Aggies to victory
With 1:51 remaining in the fourth quarter of a tightly contested game between Utah State Women’s Basketball and Omaha, Omaha’s Sarai Estupiñan hit a three to tie the game at 69. The late three was part of a 26-point performance from Estupiñan that kept the Mavericks in the lead for over 27 minutes of the game.
After the three to tie it, Utah State’s Elise Livingston knocked down a three of her own to give the Aggies a three-point lead once again. On the next Omaha possession, USU forced a turnover that was followed up by another triple from Livingston to give the Aggies a 75-69 lead with 1:17 left in the game and force an Omaha timeout. The back-to-back threes were part of a streak of eight straight USU points scored by Livingston.
“[Livingston] got going at the end. And that’s what we need,” said head coach Wesley Brooks after the game. “[Livingston] did it last year for us. She’s gotten better. She does it this year. She’ll continue to grow in the system, but she gave us what I needed.”
Livingston’s late-game heroics ultimately lifted Utah State to a 77-69 victory over Omaha for its second straight win. The eight straight couldn’t have come at a better time for Utah State, as its leading scorer Aaliyah Gayles had fouled out several minutes before.
“You’ve got to play through that. That’s called adversity, and we’ve got to meet adversity. We always talk about respond versus react, respond versus react,” Brooks said. “We were a little slow getting going today … but we finished strong. We finished strong.”
The Aggies got off to a slow start in the game, finding themselves down 16-8 late in the first quarter. USU responded with an 11-0 run from the end of the first quarter into the second quarter to take the lead 19-16. In addition to connecting on more shots, the Aggies turned to a three-quarter court press defense that got Omaha out of rhythm and forced four turnovers during the USU run.
“I’m a man of many presses, because I believe press forces tempo, controls the game. I’ve been trying to find the right one for us,” Brooks said. “I think that might be really good for us moving forward. So, we’ll continue to stick with that. But yes, that was an adjustment that we made.”
The Mavericks responded quickly, though, scoring five unanswered to take the lead back. After the teams traded baskets for much of the second quarter, Omaha scored seven straight to push its lead to nine. The Aggies responded in turn with a 5-0 run of their own to tighten the score to 35-31 at the half.
Utah State fought back in the third quarter, cutting the lead to just four points four different times before ultimately shaving the deficit to one at the end of the quarter. After Omaha opened the fourth quarter with a bucket, five unanswered points from Gayles gave the Aggies their first lead of the second half at 59-57.
Utah State was able to stay ahead for most of the fourth quarter after that point, though Omaha kept the game close until Livingston delivered the knockout punch.
The Aggies’ second-half surge was fueled by great shooting, as they shot 62% from the field and 70% from three in the second half after shooting just 30% in the first half.
“I think that we were able to get a lot more paint touches and kick outs, and that helps a lot,” Livingston said on the second-half shooting. “If you can just get the defense moving more and more, it creates more openings for everyone.”
The Aggies will be back in action on Nov. 18 as they travel to take on Oregon State.