Lady Ags blow past foe for first win
Women’s basketball welcomed the Utah Pride to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum last night for their first exhibition game of the season ending with a 78-66 Aggie win.
This pre-season game gave USU Head Coach Raegan Pebley a chance to see who could handle game play. The team has an abundance of players that are able to step up, said Pebley.
“If everyone can keep contributing then we’re going to be able to keep everybody pretty fresh in games,” Pebley said, “which is going to help us through the length of the season as well.”
With five new members on the team, four of which are freshman, Pebley said she was pleased with how the team played as a whole. Some of those freshmen played better than she had expected.
First half play ended in a 38-37 USU lead. Starting off with junior guard Taylor Richards and senior forward Brittany Hagen, USU was able to go into half-time ahead. Sophomore guard Danyelle Snelgro led the Aggies in the first half with 10 points to bring the team to a 43.2 field goal percentage.
“Our conditioning really came in tonight,” said Snelgro. “We just have to work on a couple more things – getting our offense set a little bit quicker.”
Utah State University women’s basketball is in its second year of Western Athletic Conference competition. After discontinuing the program in 1987 because of low funding, it was reinstated for the 2003-04 season with Pebley as coach.
Following Thursday’s initial win, the team will continue to work on getting better. Communication on the court is one area where the team looks to improve as this helps players know where their teammates are to apply more pressure on the other team, said Pebley.
“We executed a lot of our principles defensively, but we weren’t talking,” said Pebley.
Utah Pride is a team comprised of former college basketball players with careers ranging from Brigham Young University to Boise State. Two Pride players, Camille Kesler and Emily Walbruch, happen to be the sisters of USU sophomore forward Lindsey Freeze.
Growing up the girls often played together with one main difference: all were on the same team. Playing this first game against her sisters was different but fun, Freeze said.
The second half brought a strong, hands-on game from the Aggies which helped in their win. Work ethic and response from this game will determine whether the Aggies will be winning in the future, said Pebley.
“A win against Utah Pride does not mean that we’re going to win the rest of the year,” said Pebley.
Exhibition play will continue for the Aggies when they host Mesa State on Nov. 11 at 7 pm. Their regular season schedule will begin with a visit to Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah on Nov. 14.
-eawads@cc.usu.edu