COLUMN: Aggie women deserve to have butts in the seats at Specrum
I’m impressed.
After watching the Utah State women’s basketball team take on Southern Utah University Friday evening in the Spectrum, I began to realize the impact the sport can have on the university and the community.
Not only will the women provide yet another opportunity for an activity in a town where people claim “there is nothing to do,” but they will provide more culture to a community that didn’t complain when the sport was originally discontinued in 1987.
The key is getting people to stay in their seats.
The scheduling of the first game in 16 years to begin following the men’s season opener was strategic.
Of the 6,805 fans who came to see the men knock off Fort Lewis College 86-54, about 5,500 of those people stayed.
And to see all of the fans in the stands was important to the coaches, the administration and the players.
Aggie Head Coach Raegan Pebley said anyone would be hard pressed to find a bigger crowd at any women’s game in the state. She would know. She’s visited the other institutions during the hoops season.
Athletics Director Rance Pugmire said he didn’t expect anything different than a solid crowd.
“The students have been avid basketball fans for years,” he said. “There is no reason to think they won’t be supportive [of the women’s team].”
Starting guard Christina Zdenek said the game was probably the biggest thing she has ever been a part of and the crowd was the largest group she had played in front of.
And she shined.
The freshman from West Hill, Calif., led USU with 16 points and wasn’t afraid to take a shot, putting up 17 attempts from the field.
Zdenek really displayed what women’s basketball is all about.
Too bad not very many people stayed for the entire game to see her and the rest of the Aggies go on a 9-0 run to close out the contest.
Pebley wasn’t disappointed, though, after about half of the people who watched the opening tip left by the second timeout and then even more people left at halftime.
It didn’t matter.
There were people in the seats and there were people enjoying the sport.
And Pebley promises the team will get better. Besides, the only place the Aggies can really go is up.
The only way the team can get better is through practice and actual game-time experience, which Pebley gave to every player who dressed for the contest.
Tiffany Peterson, who watched the game in street clothes, will likely redshirt this season.
Pebley said she played every woman because they had worked really hard for the game and the season and they deserved it.
The question on who would start prior to Friday’s contest was another story. Pebley said she had thought a lot about the issue, but would not talk as of Tuesday morning.
The reason? Zdenek said Pebley never really talked about who the starters would be because she wanted to give everyone a shot at being on the floor when the ball was thrown in the air.
Forwards Brittany Tressler and Brittany Hagen, center Ali Aird and guards Virginia Jennings and Zdenek earned starting jobs against the Thunderbirds.
Will the same players start against Montana State Monday evening in Bozeman or at the Fiesta Bowl women’s Classic in Tucson, Ariz. Dec. 6 and 7? Only time will tell.
The only guaranteed thing is Utah State will give everything it has every time it takes the court and the Aggies deserve the solid fan support.
Julie Ann Grosshans is a senior majoring in print journalism and the sports editor of The Utah Statesman. Comments can be sent to juag@cc.usu.edu.