Fresno State’s pressure, rebounding overwhelms Utah State in loss

For three quarters on Feb. 15, Utah State Women’s Basketball looked like a team capable of hanging around, competing and at times, dictating terms.

For one quarter — again — it all unraveled.

Fresno State used relentless offensive rebounding and ball pressure to pull away late, handing Utah State a 73-59 loss at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and extending the Aggies’ losing streak to 12 games in Mountain West play.

The Bulldogs finished with 19 offensive rebounds, turned 21 Utah State turnovers into 26 points and wore down a short-handed Aggies roster missing its entire center rotation.

“The things that killed us today — two things — you can’t have 21 turnovers,” said head coach Wesley Brooks. “Also the four-for-22 from three. If you have the 21 turnovers and 18 missed threes, that seven-point game is going the other way.”

Utah State opened the game sharply. Elise Livingston buried a corner three on the Aggies’ first possession, Macie Brown controlled the glass early and Karyn Sanford finished inside to cap an 8-0 run in the opening three minutes.

Even as Fresno State began crashing the offensive glass, Utah State’s energy held through the first quarter. The Aggies closed the quarter tied 12-12 after Aaliyah Gayles finished through contact late and USU forced a turnover on a five-second violation.

The tone changed in the second quarter.

With Utah State forced into extended five-guard lineups due to injuries, Fresno State began to punish the Aggies inside and in transition. A 12-2 Bulldogs run midway through the quarter flipped the game, and Utah State managed just nine points in the period, going nearly six minutes without a field goal.

By halftime, Fresno State led 33-21, fueled by offensive rebounds, steals and easy finishes at the rim.

Utah State entered the game already thin up front. Before tipoff, the program announced Sophie Sene would miss the remainder of the season and undergo shoulder surgery. Sene had averaged 9.2 points and 6.3 rebounds in just 20.4 minutes per game while showing significant offensive growth.

Rachel Wilson, the Aggies’ other center, received a shoulder injection and was listed as “game-to-game,” leaving Utah State without a true post presence.

“It’s basically by necessity. It’s not by choice,” Brooks said of the guard-heavy lineups. “We started with 14, then you have two redshirts, then two of your main players go down … all of a sudden, you’re down to six or seven. It’s hard. It’s very hard.”

That lack of size showed in the numbers. Fresno State scored 20 second-chance points and consistently extended possessions with extra rebounds.

Utah State briefly found momentum early in the third. Sanford finished through contact, Gayles knocked down a corner three and Brown cleaned up a missed layup in transition to cut the deficit to seven.

But Fresno State responded, re-establishing control in the paint and capitalizing on Utah State miscues. The Bulldogs scored 34 points in the paint and stretched the lead back to double digits by the midpoint of the quarter.

A late third-quarter steal and score through contact from Emilia Long pushed Fresno State ahead 52-39 entering the fourth.

Utah State showed one last push. Sanford jumped an inbound pass, Gayles found Brown for a layup and Aitana Rosello Lopez buried a corner three to trim the margin to eight.

Then Danae Powell ended it, hitting back-to-back threes to reassert control and quiet the building.

Fresno State placed four players in double figures, led by Powell, who finished with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting and five rebounds. Avery Watkins added 15 points and seven boards, Jaisa Gamble chipped in 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals, and Long posted 11 points and six assists.

Utah State was led by Elise Livingston, who logged 40 minutes and scored 13 points. Sanford finished with 12 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Gayles added 11 points and eight rebounds despite being scratched from the starting lineup after being hit in the eye during pregame warmups.

“Overall, I would say we fought today,” Sanford said. “The second quarter kind of killed us. But for the most part, we fought the whole game — on the boards, on 50-50 plays.”

The loss followed a script Utah State has seen repeatedly this season: competitive stretches undone by one quarter of slippage, often magnified by fatigue and thin depth.

“The only thing we’re consistent with right now is we’re going to play three good quarters, and then that one quarter is going to creep up,” Brooks said. “We’ve got to play four good quarters.”

Still, Brooks emphasized resilience — and the long view.

“This is not what I envisioned at the beginning of the year,” he said. “But we’ve got resilient kids. We’re teaching. We’re coaching. And we’re going to stay with it.”

Sanford echoed that mindset.

“It’s not worth our energy to focus on what we can’t control,” she said. “If we get our heads down, we’re going to lose by 20. We’ve done a better job of that, at least today, and we’ve got to keep building on it.”

Utah State now has five games remaining in the regular season as it searches for a breakthrough amid injuries and a 12-game skid. The Aggies will turn their focus to a three-games-in-seven-days stretch beginning this week, with hopes of regaining health, tightening execution and finding momentum before the Mountain West tournament.

“You just can’t quit,” Brooks said. “You’ve got to keep fighting.”

For Utah State, that fight — imperfect and incomplete but persistent — continues.