Ard and Aggie women open season with a win
Utah State women’s basketball first-year head coach Kayla Ard opened her tenor with an 81-74 victory against Montana, making her just the third head coach in program history to win their first game and the first since Cindy Perkins in 1978-79.
The PARTY is on‼️
💧💧💧#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/02x2LS3kwk
— USU Women's Hoops (@USUWBasketball) November 25, 2020
A couple of newcomers made the most of their debuts for the Aggies Wednesday night, both freshman guard Meagan Mendazona and graduate forward Jessica Chatman pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, while Mendazona led Utah State with 18 points. Mendazona had her hand in all areas of the game Wednesday night, leading the team in points (18), rebounds (7), blocks (4) and steals (4), while also recording five assists in her Aggie debut. Chatman was second on the team with 14 points on the night and four out of five USU starters finished in double figures.
The win didn’t come without some obstacles, as the team had to claw back into the game through the third quarter to find its grasp on a victory.
“I was really pleased with a lot of things that we did, we definitely have some areas to work on, but I was most pleased with our fight back,” Ard said. “I believe we were down 13 points and I’ve been really curious to see how this team was going to fight back when we faced some adversity.”
Utah State picked up its scoring in the second half and shot the ball more efficiently, improving on 44% from the field in the opening two quarters to 53% shooting in the second half. The turnaround didn’t come solely through an improvement on the offensive end, the defense was the catalyst in the comeback with the Aggies creating turnovers that led to scoring chances.
“It started with our defense, it started with that run before going into the half, with getting steals and our defense was creating our offense,” Ard said.
The Aggies will head to Pocatello Saturday to take on Idaho State in the team’s next game.
—sports@usustatesman.com