Montana beats USU by one
Utah State’s 71-70 loss to Montana Friday night left a little bit more to be desired by the Aggies.
“The only thing that could have been better is if we had had two more points,” Utah State Head Coach Raegan Pebley said.
In the final seven minutes of the game, the two teams were always within three points and the Ags tied the game twice. Both times the game was tied, the Aggies had a chance to take the lead on free throws but missed, leaving the game tied.
The Grizzlies took the lead on their next possession both times and the Ags weren’t able to tie, but did keep the game within three points.
With eight seconds left, Taylor Richards scored on a layup after the option play took a while to develop to get an open shot at a 3-pointer. The Ags fouled immediately and Montana’s Laura Cote hit both her free throws to make the score 71-68.
On Utah State’s last possession Brittany Hagen missed a 3-pointer and Ali Marchant grabbed the rebound and put it back as time expired. Pebley was still yelling for the Aggies to foul as the refs signaled the end of the game.
A lot of things could have been different in the second half for the Aggies. The missed free throws made up enough points – three – to swing the game. The Ags also turned the ball over eight times in the second half and only had four assists. In the first half, the Ags had nine assists and just six turnovers.
“That did hurt,” Aggie point guard Taylor Richards said. “When you look at the end and you think, ‘That one point was a free throw,’ or whatever else you could have done to make up that one point little difference.”
Starting center Ali Marchant finished the game with 22 points and 12 rebounds as she and Jessica Freeman combined to score nearly half of Utah State’s points. Richards finished with 16 points, four assists and two steals.
Both halves were very similar in terms of play. In the first, the Ags fell behind and were down 10 with 13 minutes left, but came back to tie the game with four and a half minutes left in the half. In the second, the Ags were down seven for most of the start of the second half after the Grizzlies came out with an 8-2 run. Utah State tied the game with 4:27 remaining in the game.
The main difference between the two halves was that the Ags didn’t take the lead in the second half. Part of the difference was the foul count. The Ags weren’t in the bonus in the first half so the Grizzlies didn’t get any free throws.
In the second half, the Grizzlies took 13 free throws and made 11. The Ags made eight of 12.
Utah State’s only leads came with under three minutes remaining before half. The first was at 30-28 and the last time the Ags ever led was at 34-33.
With the game as close as it was the Aggies had their chance to give the game away with the Grizzlies up 10 points early and seven points with 10 minutes left. After blowing a late lead and a 13-point lead in their two exhibition games, the Ags managed to keep the game close down the stretch.
“It’s a great sign of confidence for our team,” Pebley said. “When you lose two exhibition games, some teams would have gone into a panic, but our staff and our team knew that we were a good team and a better team.”
The Aggies will continue to play their tough pre-season schedule as they will travel to the University of Colorado next weekend to play Illinois in the first round of the CU Tournament. Their next home game will be Dec. 8 against Air Force.
-krn@cc.usu.edu