Schlott leads Aggies past Northwest Nazarene
Powered by Jennifer Schlott and her dominant performance, the USU women’s basketball team rolled to an 81-65 victory over Northwest Nazarene Tuesday night in the Spectrum. The game was the first exhibition game of the season for both teams, and the Aggies made the most of their only preseason game of the year.
“It was a good exhibition game for us because we played a lot of girls,” Utah State head coach Jerry Finkbeiner said. “We had a few runs in the game where it felt good, but most of the time we were just kind of grinding things. We’ve got some really good tape to look at and clean up for our first home game on Saturday. The exhibition game is a worthy game because we learned a lot about ourselves tonight.”
The main thing the Aggies learned was that they can rely on Schlott. The senior guard led all scorers in netting a total of 29 points on 12 of 21 shooting from the field. In addition to scoring the ball well, Schlott also flirted with a quadruple double. She finished the night by dishing out a game-high nine assists, to go along with seven rebounds and six steals. Schlott scored a large portion of her points on layups that came off of fast break opportunities.
“Jennifer Schlott played really well,” Finkbeiner said. “… Jenn is a top point guard, and she’s gonna have a good year. If she stays healthy, she’s going to have a senior year to remember, no question.”
“I know this year, I have to take more of an offensive role,” Schlott said. “… I’m just trying to help the team in any way possible.”
Utah State had a total of four players reach double digits in scoring. Joining Schlott in the offensive attack was Makenlee Williams, Elise Nelson, and Cristal Turner. Williams notched 18 points, and Nelson and Turner each contributed 10. Overall, the Aggies shot 47% from field goal range. Utah State also had 14 points off of the fast break, as the Aggies were able to push the tempo of the game.
After getting out to an early lead against the Crusaders, it took USU until about halfway through the second half to pull away from NNU for good. After leading by a score of 42-31 with 14 minutes left in the game, the Aggies turned on the burners to give themselves a comfortable lead. Utah State went on a 10-0 run over the next four minutes, capped off by a Williams layup on a nice assist from Schlott.
The Aggies were grateful for a strong showing by the USU faithful, especially in the number of students that attended the game.
“What impressed me the most was the crowd,” Finkbeiner said. “The HURD was out. It was probably the biggest HURD group since I’ve been here.”
In addition to the good offensive showing, the Aggies played some solid defense. Utah State forced Northwest Nazarene into 28 turnovers, and the Aggies also snatched 19 steals and recorded six blocks on the night. Nelson had five steals, and Ingrida Strikas erased four shots.
The match up with Northwest Nazarene featured some interesting connections. Finkbeiner started his coaching career at Northwest Nazarene, as an assistant for the men’s team in 1984-85. While there, Finkbeiner coached the father of one of the Crusaders’ current players, Leslie Warwick. The following year, Finkbeiner landed his first head coaching job, as he took over the women’s team at NNU for the 1985-86 season. Finkbeiner’s father is also a NNU alum.