Aggie women fall in first round of MW tourney

The Utah State women’s basketball team fell to San Jose State University 99-85 in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament Monday afternoon.

The Aggies were doomed early by the hot shooting of the Spartans.

“San Jose State played a really good game from the shot,” said Utah State head coach Jerry Finkbeiner. “They were making them. The door was never truly open.”

The Spartans shot 14 of 35 from behind the 3-point line for the game. Senior forward Rebecca Woodberry tied a career-high with eight makes from behind the arc. She finished the game with 26 points on 9 of 15 shooting.

“I think the offense moved the ball well so we were able to get open shots,” Woodberry said. “It was easy to make shots.”

The Aggies made a run with under 14 minutes to play in the second half and cut the San Jose lead to just three points on a layup by freshman guard Tilar Clark. The Spartans hit a 3-point shot on the ensuing possession and Utah State never got any closer.

“We made two good stabs in the second half to cut it to five,” Finkbeiner said. “We put a lot of energy into it. Their kids came back and hit another 3 and another 3. Buried us the two times we made stabs in the second half.”

Utah State outrebounded San Jose 48 to 36, but 19 turnovers and 3 of 18 shooting from 3-point land was too much to overcome.

Freshman guard Funda Nakkasoglu led the Aggies with 26 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while forward Tijana Djukic had 12 points, seven rebounds, and a game-high four blocks.

“San Jose State is a very scary first-round opponent,” Finkbeiner said. “This is the reason. If they’re on, they can beat anybody in the conference.”

– Thomas.sorenson@aggiemail.usu.edu

Twitter: @tomcat340