Aggie women struggle in Montana, drop second straight
The Utah State women’s basketball team suffered its second straight loss, falling 78-61 to Montana State on Friday. Senior center Maddy Plunkett finished with a career-high 14 points in the loss.
“(Plunkett )was able to bring us a quick punch offensively,” head coach Raegan Pebley said. “Her ability to stretch the defense with her perimeter shooting is a strength of hers.”
Plunkett, making her first start this season, got off to a quick start by scoring the first five points for the Aggies en route to an early 5-2 advantage.
Montana State answered back in a competitive first half that saw six ties and five lead changes. Junior forward Rachel Semansky had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bobcats.
It was a rough night for the Utah State defense, as Montana State shot 50 percent from the field in the first half. The Aggies connected on only 38.2 percent of their field-goal attempts in the first half but trailed by only two at the break, despite poor shooting.
Unfortunately for Utah State, Montana State continued its hot shooting in the second half.
That two-point halftime deficit swelled as the Bobcats used a balanced offensive attack to dissect the Aggie defense. Freshman guard Kalli Durham hit a 3-pointer to give MSU a nine-point advantage with 14 minutes remaining, and USU would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.
“It was a big wake-up call defensively for us,” Pebley said. “We have to bring our defense every night, we can’t depend and rely on our offense. It’s an opportunity for us to learn early in the season.”
Montana State pushed its lead to 76-57 after a layup from Semansky with just over two minutes remaining, as the Aggie defense struggled to contain the Bobcats. Senior guard Katie Bussey had 16 points for MSU, including 4 of 9 from the 3-point line.
MSU had five players in double figures in scoring and finished with 17 assists while out-rebounding USU 44-32.
The Bobcats finished shooting 50.8 percent from the field, including 85.7 percent from the free-throw line. The Aggies were 24 of 68 for 35.3 percent from the field. MSU also outscored USU 42-30 in the paint, as well as 17-12 in fast-break points.
Junior guard Devyn Christensen added 14 points for the Aggies in her first start of the season and had a team-high three assists.
Senior forward Ashlee Brown fell just shy of a double-double with eight points and 11 rebounds. It was the first time this season Brown failed to reach double digits in points.
With the loss the Aggies fall to 5-3 on the season, and Montana State improves to 6-2. USU begins the conclusion of its three-game road trip at Idaho State on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 2:05 p.m.
“We’re going to focus on ourselves the next three days of practice,” Pebley said. “We are going to take advantage of this time that we can focus on us.”
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu