Aggies hold on to beat San Jose State

In their final home game of the season, the Utah State women’s basketball team outlasted the San Jose State Spartans 86-78 as four separate Aggies scored at least 15 points.

“One of the girls in the locker room said ‘this is fun!’” said head coach Jerry Finkbeiner.

Their 24 assists was a season-high for the Aggies, including a career-best 10 assists from guard Eliza West.

Aggie forward Shannon Dufficy put on a clinic, recording 19 points and 16 rebounds.

“Coach has said that my rebounding is going to be a big part of [the offense] so I think that’s really something I’ve tried to focus on lately,” Dufficy said.

The game opened with Utah State flexing its muscles (and height) by going inside early and often. Of their 21 first-quarter points, 16 of them were in the paint with forward Hailey Bassett putting in six.

Iain Laurence

Utah State forward Hailey Bassett attempts a layup against San Jose State

In addition to their inside presence, the Aggie defense was stifling as it held San Jose State to 5-for-15 shooting (1-for-8 3-pointers) and forced six Spartan turnovers.

In the first half alone, Utah State forced 11 Spartan turnovers and held them to just 33 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point land.

Coming out of halftime, Dufficy improved from her 2-for-9 shooting in the first half to put up a quick seven points in five minutes, and according to Dufficy, coach Finkbeiner didn’t care.

“He said it doesn’t matter that I’m missing, because it’s giving us second chances,” Dufficy said, adding if she kept putting them up “they’d eventually go in.”

By the end of the third quarter, four Aggies found themselves in double-figures: Olivia West, Rachel Brewster, Dufficy and Bassett.

The fourth quarter stressed fans as San Jose State found its 3-point shooting, going 6-for-12 in the fourth quarter alone. The Aggies would sneak past their press defense and eventually widdle the time down. They found their 20-point lead slimmed down to a final eight-point victory.

The Aggies will go on to play UNLV as their last game of the season before Monday’s start of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

“I’d like to bottle a lot of the things we did tonight and bring it down to Las Vegas,” Finkbeiner said, adding the team will “let the chips fall.”