Aggies cruise past Loyola Marymount, go to 2-0
The Utah State women’s basketball team cruised to a 100-58 win Wednesday night against Loyola Marymount University. The Aggies improve to 2-0 on the season with the win. LMU drops to 0-2 after an opening loss to the Aggies’ Mountain West Conference foe New Mexico.
“I’m really proud of our girls because there is some confidence starting to show now,” said USU head coach Jerry Finkbeiner. “We’ve got some momentum and some belief in what we are trying to do.”
USU started the game with a 7-0 run in the first three minutes. They kept up the intensity from there, cruising to a 48-24 lead at halftime. At one point during the first half, USU’s Cristal Turner had 11-straight Aggie points.
The Aggies dominated the half with senior guard Jennifer Schlott only playing eight minutes due to foul trouble. She picked up her fourth foul 14 minutes into the game.
There were 10 different players for the Aggies who found their way on to the scoreboard as Makenlee Williams, Ingrida Strikas, Jasmine Porter, Turner and Schlott all had double-digit points. Williams led all scorers in the game with 19 points.
The Aggies also had a nice rebounding day, collecting 57 team rebounds while Franny Vaaulu and Stephanie Bairstow had double-digit rebounds. Finkbeiner wasn’t satisfied with the team’s performance on the glass, however.
“We have to rebound better,” he said. “We have to sure up the offensive boards.”
USU shot extremely well from behind the 3-point arc, finishing with 42 percent. Turner hit four 3-pointers in the game – three of those coming in consecutive order in the first half.
“The whole team was moving the ball around and taking the right shots,” Turner said. “We weren’t forcing anything, nobody was rushing their shots and that had a lot to do with it.”
Utah State will take on in-state rival Utah in Tuesday in Logan. They are looking to avenge a 28-point loss in Salt Lake last year to the Utes. The Aggies look to have a 3-0 start for the first time since the 2009-10 season. The Aggies have scored 100 points or more in consecutive games, marking the first time they have done this since 1979.
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