Aggies snag overtime win over Lumberjacks
The USU women’s basketball team established itself at home for the first time this season Wednesday against Northern Arizona.
The Aggies squeaked out an overtime victory over the Lumberjacks, 64-56.
“I am just really proud of the team from the starters to the players on the bench,” said USU head coach Reagan Pebley. “From the very beginning our team was going to refuse to lose. They had a lot of positive energy.”
USU senior guard Ana Pares’ career-high 18 points helped USU pass up NAU in overtime. The Aggies also had double-doubles form senior guard Danyelle Snelgro and junior forward Lydia Whitehead.
Both teams struggled in the first quarter. NAU took a 2-0 lead and USU had three turnovers before setting up its first shot of the game. Trying get their game pace back, the Aggies caught up with two field goals from Snelgro, which gave USU a 27-25 lead with 3:42 in half. But the Lumberjacks closed out the half with a 7-0 run to take a 34-27 halftime lead.
Whitehead scored with Snelgro setting a layup to go ahead, 37-36, seconds into the second half.
Hustling to catch the Lumberjacks, USU got a 3-pointer from the right wing to tie the score at 49-all with 2:15 to play. NAU’s Katie Pratt made two free throws with 1:12 remaining, giving NAU the lead. Team work kicking in, Pares gave a long pass to sophomore guard Alice Coddintgton for a layup to tie the game.
“Went pretty well,” Coddington said. “Would have liked to seen the team have a better first half to pressure NAU. In the whole it was a good win. The team really stuck together with hard work and team effort. The game was on the line and we knew what we needed to do to make this a win.”
Pares padded the Aggies’ lead, hitting a baseline jumper to a flailing runner as the clock buzzer sounded and was fouled with 47.6 seconds left to give USU a 60-53 lead and win.
The Aggies’ next game is Saturday in the Spectrum against Idaho State. Tipoff is 7 p.m.
–c.child@aggiemail.usu.edu