Lady Techsters too much for Ag women to handle
Adrienne Johnson scored 36 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead a Lady Techster offensive explosion as Louisiana Tech stayed perfect in Western Athletic Conference play, defeating Utah State 91-74.
The Aggies (8-9, 2-2) jumped on the board first after guard Jenna Johnson went in for a layup, but following a Johnson layup three minutes into the game, the Lady Techsters (12-4, 5-0) never looked back. Johnson proved to be problematic for Utah State all night, finishing the game 10-of-21 from the field and a perfect 16-of-16 from the free throw line.
“She’s the best player in our league, and she’s playing like it,” said Aggie head coach Raegan Pebley. “You can’t stop a player like her. You can only contain her, and we didn’t contain her very well tonight.”
Led by Johnson, who came into the game as the WAC’s leader in field goal percentage, Tech took advantage of a sluggish Aggie start, building a lead of 21-6 midway through the first half. The Aggies were particularly bothered by turnovers, finishing with 25 on the evening to La-Tech’s 19. Utah State also struggled from the field through the first 10 minutes of the game, and, according to Pebley, allowed the Lady Techsters to dictate the tempo of play.
“Our first seven minutes of the game were not very good. I wouldn’t say we weren’t ready to play, but we just weren’t sharp,” Pebley said. “We were too reactive offensively and defensively, and they were really able to capitalize off of that and jump out.”
Utah State was led offensively by junior forward Ashlee Brown and sophomore guard Devyn Christensen, who scored 24 and 18 points, respectively. Despite finishing the evening double figures, neither Brown nor Christensen could help their team overcome a poor start from the field on the night. While USU finished a respectable 35.7 percent shooting from the field, Pebley said the team’s first-half shooting struggles – coupled with several sloppy turnovers and inability to follow up at the rim – ultimately doomed the Aggies’ chances.
“To open the game – not only the turnovers – but one of the things that dug us a hole is that we didn’t finish some layups around the basket,” Pebley said. “We missed probably six or seven lay-ups in the first 10 minutes. That hurts, and I think that would of helped balance the scoring out a lot more.”
USU eventually regrouped as the first half drew to a close, but went into the locker-room down 43-32. It was there that Pebley calmed her team down, and inspired the Aggies to play the kind of basketball that led to a convincing win over Nevada last Saturday.
“We just encouraged our girls and told them to stay confident and positive and play our style of basketball,” Pebley said.
Coming out with renewed energy in the second half, the Aggies cut the lead to 43-38 less than two minutes after returning from the tunnel.
“We made some adjustments that the girls executed well,” Pebley said.
Louisiana Tech kept USU at arm’s length, however, and pushed the lead back to 57-44 after Johnson took the ball in for a strong lay-up at the 13:51 mark. From there the Lady Techsters showed why they’re the WAC’s best, stretching the lead to 68-50 by the 7:44 mark. Johnson continued to pace the Lady Techster offense, and despite a strategy to try to foul the senior forward from Franklin, La., Johnson proved unstoppable both at the line and the floor.
“She did a great job at the free-throw line,” Pebley said of Johnson. “We fouled her quite a few times, but she got some offensive rebound putbacks and her guards did a really great job of staying disciplined in getting her the ball.”
Pebley wasn’t displeased with the way her team played in the second half, but said the early deficit the Aggies suffered was ultimately too much to overcome – especially in front of the 1,635 hostile fans of Ruston’s Thomas Assembly Center.
“We were miscued,” Pebley said. “We were not in sync with each other. There were a lot of bad mental errors that we’ll have to erase if we’re going to continue a good push in the WAC.”
Despite the loss, Pebley and her team remains optimistic about their chances this season. After last Saturday’s home win against Nevada, USU proved it can be competitive in WAC play. The Aggies, according to Pebley, need only learn from the loss Thursday night, and reestablish the dominant and aggressive pace that they came out with in their last home victory.
“We’ll learn,” Pebley said. “Sometimes you learn more important lessons from the things where you aren’t successful or those trying times. There’s redemption in the loss in that we’ll learn from it.”
The Aggies will return to action this Saturday night at 7 when they travel to Las Cruces, N.M. to take on the Aggies of New Mexico State. New Mexico State is currently 8-10 on the year (2-2 WAC) and are coming off a 76-49 loss to Fresno State last Saturday night.
– adam.nettina@aggiemail.usu.edu