Brown’s 21 points leads Ags over UC-I
Senior Ashlee Brown scored 21 points to lead the Utah State women’s basketball team to a 69-64 road win over the University of California-Irvine on Saturday.
The 6-foot forward also pulled down 14 rebounds as the Aggies held on to beat the Anteaters.
“(UC-Irvine) did a lot of double and triple teaming on (Brown),” USU head coach Raegan Pebley said. “They really focused in and keyed on her defensively.”
UC-Irvine had a strong start and used a balanced offensive attack to lead for most of the first half. Five different Anteaters scored as Irvine led by as much as six early on.
Brown kept the Aggies in the game, scoring USU’s first eight points and finishing the first half with a double-double.
Utah State took its first lead of the game at 19-18, with about five minutes left in the half. The teams then traded baskets for the remainder of the first half, and senior guard Brooke Jackson scored eight of her 12 points down the stretch.
A layup from Jackson with 20 seconds to go tied the game at 28-all going into the half.
With Irvine keying in on Brown, the Utah State guards stepped up at the start of the second half. Sophomore Jennifer Schlott and junior Jenna Johnson scored USU’s first eight points, as the Aggies went on a 13-4 run in the first four minutes.
“We made some adjustments with our defense that allowed us to get on a bit of a run,” Pebley said. “We were able to get more aggressive and create some turnovers.”
Irvine didn’t go away quietly, however.
The home team used a 7-0 run to crawl back within two, as junior forward Jazmyne White and freshman forward Methlyn Onogomuho took over for the Anteaters. White finished with a team-high 20 points, and Onogomuho added 11 points and pulled down six rebounds.
The Aggies responded with another run of their own. Utah State held a slim two-point lead before exploding with an 8-0 run to push the lead to double digits. Solid defense propelled the run as USU allowed Irvine two shots and forced two turnovers in a two-minute span.
Senior forward Maddy Plunkett scored 12 points in 20 minutes of play and was one of three Aggies to finish in double digits.
Schlott finished with six points and had five steals, as Utah State forced 19 turnovers and held Irvine to 10 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Over the course of the final 10 minutes, the Anteaters chipped away at the Aggies lead.
White cut the lead to three with a jump shot with about 3 minutes remaining, but that is as close as UC-Irvine got the rest of the way. The Aggies hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
“It’s been nice to see our team be able to get to the foul line,” Pebley said. “Brooke did a great job of getting to the foul line.”
Utah State improves to 3-1 on the season with the win, while UC-Irvine falls to 0-4. The Aggies return home for a two-game home stand, as they host Boise State on Nov. 23, and UC-Riverside visits the Spectrum on Nov. 25. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.
“It was a hard-fought win,” Pebley said. “(UC-Irvine) is a really aggressive and athletic team. It was pretty uptempo, but I was proud of how we controlled the runs. We had a lot of contribution from a lot of different players.”
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu