USU loses to Baden Sports

Northwest Sports team 76-65 Thursday night in the Spectrum.

The Aggies were up by as many as 13 points in the first half and had a 10 point lead three minutes into the second half before Baden found plenty of open shots.

“We put ourselves in a position to really breakaway a couple times,” Utah State Head Coach Raegan Pebley said. “But they have a lot of scoring players and they take so many threes that they can get back in the game quicker.”

Baden took 14 3-pointers in the second half, making four of them to none for USU, on their way to outscoring the Ags 43-27.

It didn’t help that the Ags went 0-11 from behind the arc.

“They sagged from the corners,” Pebley said. “Our kids got baited into taking threes and we had poor shot selection.”

Brittany Hagen scored 14 points in the first half but only had two in the second. Hagen took all four of the Ag’s 3-pointers in the first half, making two.

Baden picked up the intensity in the second half grabbing seven offensive rebounds and getting 13 open shots, Pebley said.

“They’re a second half team and their intensity picked up,” Hagen said. “All of us just weren’t ready for them to pick it up that much.

“Our intensity just dropped the second half. In the first they didn’t give a second effort, but in the second they did.”

Even with the loss and the blown lead, the game was still an exhibition so the score wasn’t the most telling aspect of the game for Pebley.

“I saw a lot of improvement compared to our last game and that was what I wanted to see,” she said.

The Aggies turned the ball over six fewer times than they had against the Utah Pride last week.

The Ags two senior post players Ali Marchant and Jessica Freeman both scored in double digits.

Marchant had 16 points and Freeman 14, as both shot over 60 percent from the field.

The guard play was improved, Pebley said, but the three guards who played the the majority of the minutes need to show they can play tougher both mentally and physically the whole game.

In the last six minutes of the game the Ags were outscored 20-5 and were 1-4 from the free throw line.

Utah State will open its season next Friday against Montana at 7 p.m at the Spectrum.

-krn@cc.usu.edu