Aggies demolish Vandals
Coming off a full week of rest, the Utah State women’s basketball team ran past Idaho 85-63 Saturday at the Spectrum. Junior guard Devyn Christensen scored a game-high 26 points as the Aggie defense stifled the Vandals.
“(Devyn) is so confident,” said USU head coach Raegan Pebley. “I should never be worried about her, but I was this week, because she’s been really sick this week. I loved her toughness coming in here.”
Idaho jumped out to an early lead behind an aggressive defense. Utah State struggled on offense during the first five minutes, and the Vandals led 9-6 at the first media timeout. Sophomore guard Jennifer Schlott hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give USU its first lead and sparked a 12-0 run over a three-and-a-half-minute span for a 20-13 advantage.
The Utah State defense caused 11 turnovers — including eight steals — in the first half, which led to 15 points. The Vandals closed the gap to four with a 7-2 run, but Schlott came up with a steal and found Christensen for a fast-break layup, and the Aggies went into the half with a 39-33 lead.
“Our defense picked up,” said senior forward Ashlee Brown. “At the first media timeout it was something coach Pebley addressed. We wanted to keep battling on the boards, but we came out and picked up our defense.”
The Aggies finished the game with 15 steals — five by Christensen.
The Western Athletic Conference’s No. 1 free-throw shooter also found a rhythm in the second half. Christensen scored seven points — including four free throws — during a 12-2 run by the Aggies to start the second half. Four different Utah State players scored during the stretch.
Sophomore forward Alyssa Charlston — the Vandals’ leading scorer — recorded Idaho’s first seven points of the second half, despite picking up her third personal foul four minutes in, as Utah State increased its lead to 17.
“I thought the best thing we did against (Charlston) was go at her on offense,” Pebley said. “She picked up her third foul, and that changed how she could play the game. She’s a big key to their team, even though there are a lot of other scoring weapons on their team.”
With 12 minutes remaining, the Aggies held a 15-point lead when Christensen took over. The WAC’s second-leading scorer tallied nine of USU’s next 11 points and had an assist to Brown for the other two points and a 61-40 advantage.
The Vandals kept the deficit from growing by connecting on 4 of 5 3-point attempts. Despite the barrage from behind the arc, Idaho was unable to contain Christensen. USU led by as much as 22 with less than 11 minutes remaining.
Then, with seven minutes remaining, Christensen was fouled by Idaho’s Krissy Karr while dribbling along the baseline and put up a shot while she was falling out of bounds. The shot went in, and, after Christensen converted the free-throw attempt, USU’s lead was 20.
“I felt contact so I went up with it, and it fell,” Christensen said. “I started on the defensive end and carried that through transition to get myself opportunities.”
USU finished the game 26 of 30 from the free-throw line and scored 28 points off of 20 Idaho turnovers. The Aggies also won the rebounding battle 36-26 and outscored the Vandals 28-18 in the paint.
With the win, Utah State improved to 18-8 overall and tied the school record for wins in a season. The Aggies are 9-3 in WAC play and can tie the school record for conference wins in a season with victories in their final two games of the season.
Up next for USU is the University of Hawaii. The Rainbow Wahine visit Logan on Thursday March 1 with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu