Heartbreaking defeat finishes USU women’s basketball season

Nevada is well known for their ability to steal the ball, but what USU wasn’t expecting was for them to steal the show in the final minutes of the game. After being up by as much as 11 points, the sixth-seeded Aggies didn’t score in the final 5:45 of the game and fell 61-60 to the third-seeded Wolf Pack during the first game of the WAC Basketball Tournament in Las Cruces, NM, on Wednesday. “This is heart breaking,” Head Coach Raegan Pebley said of the loss, “but it’s something that’s going to help our program be better. Most of these kids that were in the game tonight will be back next year and they’ll learn that no lead is sacred in tournament. No game is a guaranteed win for anyone. We had the lead for 39 minutes and 20 seconds so it’s heart breaking.” Had USU won this game it would have marked the first time in three decades that the women’s team has made it past the first game of a conference tournament. And up until the final seconds of the game, it looked like the Aggies might just pull off that feat.But then a series of turnovers created by poor passes and tight Nevada defense provided the Wolf Pack with the victory and an advancement to the next round of tournament play to take on New Mexico State University. The Aggies shot a season-high 51.2 percent from the field on the night compared to Nevada’s 33.8 percent. USU pulled down the same number of rebounds as the Wolf Pack at 34. The Aggies even shot better than Nevada from beyond the arc. But Nevada had something USU didn’t – creating scoring opportunities off turnovers, and that made all the difference. “You have to value the ball,” Pebley said. “That means rebounding and not turning the ball over. We turned the ball over too many times.” The Wolf Pack only had eight steals the entire game but scored 21 times off Aggie turnovers for points compared to the Aggies’ nine points off turnovers. The unbalanced ratio set the stage for a come-from-behind victory for Nevada. Not only did Nevada take advantage of lucrative turnovers, but made good use of rebounding to gain second-chance shots. Pebley said a deciding factor in the game was the control of the boards. “I promised our players at halftime that if they won the rebound count even by won we would win,” she said. “The rebounding count was 34 to 34 and they won by one. Defense is not defense if you cannot get a board and that’s what we didn’t do well tonight. My opinion, we gave them opportunities to score and close the gap by giving up our boards.” Nevada head coach Kim Gervasoni said she credited the success of her team not only to switching from man defense to zone defense in the second half. “Our man defense wasn’t where it needed to be tonight,” she said. “We only had eight steals. I thought [USU] turned the ball over a lot more when we went zone on them. I don’t think our defense necessarily was what won us the game.” Gervasoni said the switch to zone defense was a major step for her team because they never play zone defense and don’t ever practice it, but she was forced to do it because man defense was not working. She said this was only the second time this year her team has played a zone defense. “I thought we played a little bit tight in the first half and our shots weren’t falling,” Gervasoni said. “I just thought the turning point was going zone. We don’t play zone – ever.”She said one major reason for switching to a zone defense was because of the speed and scoring ability of USU junior guard Taylor Richards, who scored 17 points on the night and added five assists.”Taylor Richards is a great guard,” Gervasoni said. “She’s one of the best guards in the conference and she’s gotten better every year. She’s got a lot of composure and speed and athleticism.”Richards posed a threat to Nevada from every part of the court. Though she was the smallest player on the court she drove the ball down the lane three times in the opening of the second half to score easy layups. When Nevada denied her easy access to the lanes, she took to the outside with quick jumpers and one 3-point shot.Richards was joined in double digit scoring by senior forward Brittany Phillips, who scored 15 points. Thought Phillips was near dormant in the first half, scoring only five points, she lit up in the second half to give the Aggies a sizeable lead over the Wolf Pack. But once Nevada switched to a tighter zone defense, Phillips only scored one more time.Nevada took an early lead and maintained it in the early stages of the first half as they capitalized on Aggie turnovers. But a 13-4 run propelled by forwards Jenny Gross and Phillips put the Aggies on top for the first time in the game. The Wolf Pack struggled the remainder of the first half to land shots and finished the half with a 29.4 percent field goal percentage and a paltry 10 percent 3-point average. The Aggies maintained their lead and went into the locker room at halftime up 34-28. USU started out the second half strong with a series of penetrating drives by Phillips and Richards. This increased the Aggie lead to 11 points, the highest the Aggies would get before the gradual descent to defeat.Nevada whittled away at the lead until they were within two points. A combination of free throws and a crucial shot in the final minutes gave the Wolf Pack the win. This was the final career game of three Aggies seniors: forwards Brittany Hagen and Phillips and guard Camille Brox. These players have played on the women’s basketball team since it was reinstated for the 2003-2004 season and have been part of the progress the team has made over the past four years, Phillips said. “In the last four years we’ve improved so much,” she said. “It’s so much fun to be a part of that and see how the team has grown. It has really been fun this year.” -sethhawkins@cc.usu.edu