USU WBB: Aggies fall flat against Fresno State
LOGAN — Utah State Women’s Basketball had their last win in January against Fresno State. On Thursday night, they lost to the Bulldogs at home 76-61.
In their last three matchups with Fresno State, Utah State has come out on top. Fans hoped this trend would continue and break their losing streak.
“Yeah we beat them but I knew they came here to kick our butt,” guard Maria Carvalho said. “They’re not gonna take it for granted.”
Before tonight’s game, the two teams were evenly matched with Mountain West records of 1-12 for the Aggies and 1-13 for the Bulldogs.
The scoreboard showed the Aggies behind by two, with a score of 15-13, at the end of the first quarter.
USU went with a full-court press and continued that way for the duration of the game. That press paid off at times as guard Olivia Wikstrom quickly stole the ball for back-to-back two-pointers.
After the previous game against Fresno State, the Aggies thought the press would lead to another win.
“Last game we started pressing them in the second half and it worked out for us. We were able to create a lot of tips and reflections off that,” USU head coach Kayla Ard said. “Which, I thought we did a pretty job at tonight but we can’t score behind it.”
Carvalho agreed and said speeding up the game can be helpful, but it can backfire when the opponent does the same.
“I feel like when someone presses it just speeds up the game and speeds up the offense. That’s the whole point of it — to speed up the other team and make them take a bad shot,” Carvalho said. “I felt like that was going both ways. They started taking bad shots and then us with the bad shots. It just didn’t go the right way for us.”
Driving up the court and getting several second-chance shots helped Fresno State make a 10-point run. The Bulldogs kept the lead through the first half heading to the locker room up 36-22.
In the first half, Utah State had yet to score from the perimeter being 0-for-8 on 3-pointers while Fresno State shot 6-for-17.
Both teams came out of the locker room with speed in mind. Quick scoring led to an increase of 10 points by each team and USU’s first 3-pointer of the game from guard Cristina Oliva.
The third quarter ended 50-40 for Fresno State.
The Aggies brought the game back within five points after Wikstrom made a 3-pointer, quickly followed by another jump shot with just four minutes left in the game.
At the end of the game, Carvalho swished a three, leaving her with a total of 18 points. She was the leading scorer for the Aggies with Wikstrom behind her at 11 points.
The Bulldogs drained the clock to secure a 15-point victory.
“I thought that we would have confidence tonight because it’s a team that we’ve beat before,” Ard said. “I was a little disappointed. It just looked like we didn’t believe we could win.”
The eight-game losing streak has been hard on the team but they aren’t giving up just yet.
“I’m not gonna lie, it’s kinda hard at this point,” Carvalho said. “We’re always so close, that’s the worst part. But we have to keep grinding and doing what we do every single day.”
Utah State now sits at 1-13 in Mountain West play and 4-21 overall. The Aggies return to the court on Saturday when they visit Boise State at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM.
Featured image by Phil Weber.