Ag women fall to Idaho
The Utah State women’s basketball team almost came from behind yet again against Idaho Saturday, but late turnovers prevented the Aggies from winning as they fell 54-51.
The Aggies ended the first half on a 7-0 run to be down only 31-24 instead of trailing by 14 going into halftime.
During the second half of play, the Aggies cut the lead to three with 15 minutes left but couldn’t get any closer until the final seconds.
Ashley Rutledge and Brittany Hagen both hit 3-pointers to close the gap to 54-51 with less than 30 seconds remaining, but Hagen’s shot at the buzzer didn’t allow time for the Ags to try for a steal or foul to get another shot.
“We would play better if we could eliminate digging holes like that,” Utah State Head Coach Raegan Pebley said of the early 14-point deficit the Aggies had to overcome.
Utah State was led in the scoring column by freshman Lindsey Freeze, who scored nine points and pulled down six rebounds.
The Aggies held the Vandals to 54 points – Utah State’s best defensive outing on the road this season. A major reason for the low score was the Aggies’ defense, which held the Vandals to 22 percent shooting in the second half.
The Vandals were held to 17 percent shooting from behind the 3-point arc. They had been shooting nearly 33 percent on the season going into Saturday night’s game.
A major reason for the Idaho victory was the 11 offensive rebounds Idaho grabbed. The extra opportunities led to 10 more shot attempts and nine more foul shots, which would account easily for the three point margin of victory.
The guards and small forwards had to make an impact for the Ags as both Jessica Freeman and Ali Marchant were in foul trouble in the second half. Taylor Richards scored eight points and dished out six assists and Brittany Tressler pulled down nine rebounds while chipping in three points.
Utah State had 20 turnovers to the Vandals’ eight, but Idaho forced nine of the Ags’ 20 turnovers, which also helped to key easy fast-break points or at least force the Aggies to foul to keep from giving up easy baskets.
Taylor Richards played the entire game on a sprained ankle, Pebley said. Her six assists were more than the rest of the team combined, but she was just 3-9 from the field – a little below the team’s average of 38 percent.
The loss was the seventh straight for the Utah State women, who still have two more games on the road before their next home stand.
Even with half the road trip left, a win would help immensely and could be just around the corner.
“We’re going to win really soon,” Freeze said of the momentum and morale of the team after their close loss on Saturday night.
-krn@cc.usu.edu