Aggie women fall just short of upsetting Lady Techsters
The USU women’s basketball team led by one at halftime against No. 28 Louisiana Tech, but did not pull off the Senior Night upset, losing to the Lady Techsters 78-70.
Aggie head coach Raegan Pebley said her team felt like they should have beaten Louisiana Tech.
“I’m not taking a moral victory out of this because the taste of loss is bitter,” Pebley said. “I feel that a team like La-Tech who are going undefeated in league this year, they are used to being in a position where teams are coming after them and how to respond in those situations.”
The Aggies came out strong, going on a 6-0 run to start the game. Five minutes into play, sophomore forward Chelsea Burns blocked a shot, which led to a 3-pointer by freshman guard Jennifer Schlott to put USU up 14-8.
Lousiana Tech seniors Tarkeisha Wysinger-Mackey and Adrienne Johnson led the comeback with 10 points each in the first half, which ended 36-35. The Lady Techsters have trailed at halftime only seven times this season.
Aggie junior forward Ashlee Brown said the game felt natural for her.
“I felt good playing with the players who were on the court,” Brown said. “Even on the bench, they keep it alive. The crowd was great tonight, and we appreciate them coming out, of course on senior night. We just wanted to zone out and try and get the W.”
Brown led the Aggies with 16 points and 12 rebounds for her ninth double-double this season.
The Bulldogs did not retake the lead until 13 minutes left in the game when senior guard Martina Holloway hit a trey to go up by one, 47-48.
Down by as much as 10 in the second half, the Aggies made one final 6-0 run to get within four. Sophomore guard Devyn Christensen was fouled as she made a jumper before sinking the free-throw to pull within seven. She stole the ball a minute later, leading to a layup by sophomore center Banna Diop, 67-71.
Christensen ended the game with 15 points, Diop with 10 points and 11 boards.
A margin of four was as close as the Aggies got in the closing minutes of their comeback effort that fell short in the eight-point loss. Pebley said the problem was the Aggies were fighting back instead of building a lead.
“I think the big point of the game was when both of our bigs had four fouls,” Pebley said. “That was a point where we were able to get some stops, but we didn’t get great conversion on the offensive end and weren’t able to build any type of cushion.”
Johnson led all scorers for the Lady Techsters and earned her 27th career double-double with 25 points and 16 rebounds. Wysinger-Mackey had 18 points and seven rebounds. Four Tech players scored in double-digits.
USU senior Alice Coddington said Johnson is a powerful scorer.
“She did a great job tonight, no question,” Coddington said. “She’s a great player in our conference and credit to her really good offensive scoring. She’s got a great game; she’s strong and powerful.”
USU had 22 points in the paint to the Lady Techster’s 30. La-Tech had 16 second chance points while the Aggies had eight. 17 of Louisiana Tech’s points came off of turnovers while USU had 10.
The Aggies were able to force 17 turnovers from Louisiana Tech, something Pebley said is right around where her team needs to be, but ultimately lost the battle of the boards 50-40.
“We still have the rebounding battle to deal with,” Pebley said. “When we could get our defense set, we were pretty disruptive to what they do.
The Aggies will travel to Hawaii on March 3 and San Jose State on March 5 to close out the regular season.
“We just need to get back up on the horse,” Pebley said. “I feel like our team is hungry.”
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu