Cowgirls outlast the Aggies’ late push
LOGAN – The Wyoming Cowgirls (7-6, 2-0 MW) beat the performance of the Utah State Aggies (3-10, 0-2 MW) tonight, 54-48.
Macy Smith led the Aggies with nine points. The Cowgirls’ defense held Aggie Cheyenne Stubbs to five points after her 30-point career high game against UNLV. Wyoming’s Allyson Fertig led all scorers with 18 points.
Utah State started the game with Stubbs, Smith, Ivory Finley, Tiairra Hill-Brown and Skye Miller on the floor.
Wyoming started the game with Fertig, Emily Mellema, Tess Barnes, Malene Pedersen, and Ola Ustowska.
“This is the first game that I feel like we played for a full 40 minutes. Did we win? No, but did we get a lot better today? Absolutely,” said USU head coach Kayla Ard after the game.
The Aggies got off to a slow start as the Cowgirls ran up the score with a 6-0 run in the first 2 minutes of play.
Hill-Brown scored a 3-pointer to get USU on the board after making some adjustments in a timeout. The Aggies went on a 9-0 run over the next five minutes.
Samiana Suguturaga gave the Aggies the lead after a block, then converted a layup on the offensive end.
The first quarter came to an end with the score tied at 16-16, after Cowgirl Barnes landed a last second 3-pointer.
Wyoming went on a 10-2 run to start the second quarter to put the Cowgirls up 28-18 before Aggie Gracie Johnson scored two free throws to break the run.
The half came to an end after forward Bridget Mullings scored a layup from underneath the basket to cut the deficit for the Aggies to just six points, 32-26.
Fertig led both teams with 10 points at halftime, while Stubbs led the Aggies with five points. Both teams were perfect from the free throw line, and tied with eight turnovers each. The Aggies shot 53.8% from the field and 100% from the 3-point line.
The third quarter started off with Fertig scoring a put-back layup, leading her team on a 6-0 run. Then, Johnson scored a jump shot from the free throw line to break the Aggies’ scoring drought.
The Cowgirls missed their next three attempts at the basket after stubborn defense from the Aggies.
Finley scored 2 free throws with only 35 seconds left in the third. The Aggies would remain perfect from the stripe tonight, scoring 10-10 attempts.
Suguturaga ended the third quarter by blocking Mellema’s shot. Wyoming led with a scoreline of 40-32.
Suguturaga opened up the scoring quickly for the Aggies in the fourth after a pass from Ali Wetta.
Johnson blocked a shot by Fertig as she went in for a layup. Johnson would lead both teams with three blocked shots.
Finley drove hard into the paint and scored a Eurostep layup to bring the Aggies within 10 points.
Wyoming scored the next four points after forcing the Aggies into two turnovers.
Johnson scored a layup for the Aggies to prevent the Cowgirls from going on a 6-0 run. Then, Pedersen scored a 3-pointer for the Cowgirls to make the scoreline 51-38.
Miller and Smith scored a pair of 3-pointers with 30 seconds left to play, forcing Wyoming coach Heather Ezell to call a timeout.
Smith scored again after stealing the ball from Wyoming to give USU one final push at the end of the game. It was not enough, however, as the Aggies came up short, losing the game 48-54 and dropping their second game in Mountain West Conference play.
Ard said she was proud her squad bought into the game plan, and that it showed on the court.
“We just have to keep growing,” Ard added. “I would have liked to have won, but I was really proud of our effort, and if we come out and we do that on Saturday, we will get the result that we want.”
Utah State takes on the San José Spartans (5-7, 0-0 MW) on Saturday, Jan. 6, at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum at 1:00 p.m.