Aggies beat Weber State 73-63
Senior forward Ashley Brown scored 21 points as she led the Aggies to a 73-63 home-opener victory over the Weber State Wildcats on Wednesday.
The University of California-Santa Barbara transfer also pulled down nine rebounds.
“She’s good because her teammates put her in good positions,” head coach Raegan Pebley said. “She’s a great passer. We’re going to work on playing better around her.”
The Wildcats and Aggies combined for eight turnovers and only 12 points in a sloppy first four minutes, but USU held an 8-4 advantage. The Aggies settled in at that point and started the first of several runs that built a 15-point edge, just midway through the first half.
The Wildcats responded with a run of their own, scoring 14 of the next 18 points to get within five with just less than six minutes remaining in the half.
The Aggies made sure that was as close as the Wildcats got.
USU closed the half on a 17-6 run, with senior guard Brooke Jackson scoring nine points during the stretch. Pebley credited the success to the post play of Brown and junior center Banna Diop.
“That was part of our gameplan,” Pebley said, who is now in her ninth season. “We felt like that was an advantage, we’ll always look to exploit that.”
Utah State out-rebounded Weber State 38-28, including 13 offensive rebounds, and scored 17 second-chance points. The Aggies also out-scored the Wildcats in the paint, 32-20.
The Wildcats had solid efforts from their guards, sophomore Justine Johnson and senior Caela Moore. Johnson went 6-for-7 from the field and finished with a team-high 16 points, and Moore had 15 points to go with a team-high four assists.
“That’s a team that’s playing really hard,” Pebely said. “We knew they were going to come in really motivated to get that first win.”
Despite the struggles at the post, Weber State kept USU within striking distance due to its sharp shooting from behind the 3-point line. After back-to-back 3-pointers, junior guard Megan Patterson brought the Wildcats within eight points with about 17 minutes to play, forcing a Utah State timeout.
Enter, sophomore guard Jennifer Schlott.
With its top two scorers on the bench, Schlott took over for the Aggies and scored the game’s next seven points. The 5-foot-6 Arizona native found holes in the Wildcat defense, and her teammates found her on three of the Aggies’ first four possessions out of the timeout.
“That’s what we call ballin’ right there,” Brown said of Schlott’s performance. “Jen stepped it up. She was getting pressured the whole game. She took it to herself and showed swag. She led the team in her position.”
Utah State kept the momentum flowing and hit its largest lead of the game with 14 minutes remaining at 60-41. Over the next 10 minutes, both teams played evenly. With the game all but out of reach, the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run over the final 3 minutes for the final margin of 73-63.
“We’re going to celebrate the win,” Pebley said. “We wanted to not only get the win but play better in specific areas, and I felt like that was better.”
Utah State improved to 2-1 on the season with the win, while Weber State fell to 0-2 under new head coach Bethann Ord.
The Aggies travel to California to play UC-Irvine at 3 p.m. Saturday.
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu