Reno 911: Aggies lose fifth straight at Nevada
On Saturday afternoon the Utah State University women’s basketball team lost to the Nevada Wolfpack 69-60. The loss dropped the Aggies to 5-12 on the season and 0-6 in Mountain West play and highlighted some of the struggles that have been plaguing the Aggies over the course of the season.
Utah State came into the first quarter looking to make the matchup a battle in the paint, and they were fairly successful in the beginning. The Aggies scored 10 straight in the post, six coming from senior forward Hailey Bassett, with senior forward Marlene Aniambossou and sophomore forward Taylor Franson scoring two apiece, giving the Aggies a 10-8 lead. They would push their advantage all the way to 15-8; however the seven-point deficit prompted the Wolfpack to begin a full-court press and the Aggies began to struggle on both the offensive and defensive ends. This allowed Nevada to go on a 6-0 run to bring the score to 15-14 to end the first.
The Aggies played well coming into the second quarter and would be able to use their paint play to take a 25-18 lead. However, Bassett came out and the Aggies began to struggle on offense and allowed their opponents to create space and make threes, two of which were taken quickly and allowed the Wolfpack back into the game and eventually take a 30-25 lead. The run was finally broken by a layup from Bassett with 45 seconds left in the second quarter. However, that would be the last time the Aggies would score while the Wolf Pack would put up three more points and take a 33-27 lead into the break.
Throughout the entirety of the first half, the Aggies did not make a three-point shot, in fact, they took just three throughout the first 20 minutes of play. It appeared as though the team was trying to make this game all about the low post, scoring 22 of their 27 points in the paint.
Utah State was then outscored, out defended, and out hustled to start the third quarter. In the first four minutes, the team scored just four points and would go cold after that, all the while allowing the Wolfpack to score 13. The run was finally broken by sophomore guard Steph Gorman, who made three consecutive three-pointers with 2:43 left in the quarter. All of which were the first three’s for the Aggies on the night. The late offensive push would bring them within 11 points, 54-43, heading into the fourth quarter.
Utah State was unable to continue the momentum that it had built into the final period. In the first three minutes of the quarter, the Wolf Pack were able to go on an 8-2 run, giving them a 62-45 lead, which they would continue to build. And the Aggies gave them a lot of material. The team committed four turnovers in the period and were unable to create shots for themselves. In the end, Utah State was able to cut the lead thanks to Aniambossou, but only after the Wolfpack had pulled its starters, ultimately losing 69-60.
Coming into Saturday’s game, the Aggies offense had been dominated by Bassett and Jensen-Baker, but it would be Gorman leading the charge on offense with 17. Aniambossou was close behind with 14 and Bassett rounded out the top three with 12. Outside of those three, no player had more than six points on the night. Franson, in just her sixth start this season, led the team in rebounds with eight and junior Emmie Harris lead the team in assists with four.
As a whole, the team did not play very careful basketball, accumulating 19 turnovers to Nevada’s 11; however, they shot a respectable 25-of-52 from the field. And despite hesitating to shoot the three in the first half, ended the game 5-11 from behind the three-point line, with Gorman scoring all but one of the team’s threes.
Overall, the Aggies struggled to get any offense going for the vast majority of the game and suffered for it. They were unable to keep up with Nevada and the loss solidified a place at the bottom of the Mountain West standings.