USU WBB: Aggies fourth-quarter surge falls short in loss to Southeastern Louisiana

LOGAN — Utah State Women’s Basketball fell to Southeastern Louisiana 78-68 and dropped to 1-1 on the year on Friday afternoon.

Guard Mayson Kimball led the Aggies in scoring with 24 points on seven shots. Kimball was 5-5 from the arc and made seven of her 10 free throw attempts to go along with six boards in the effort. 

“She is going to be very unhappy because we lost so she could care less about that stat line — that’s what I love about her,” head coach Kayla Ard said. “She didn’t do anything today that she doesn’t do at practice.”

The Aggies got out to a slow start trailing 20-7 at the end of the first quarter. They shot 2-10 with both shots coming from Kimball beyond the arc. 

Despite their early struggles, the Aggies cut the Lions’ lead down to 7 at 34-27 after the second quarter. USU was backed by eight points from Kimball to put her at 14 in one half. 

The glaring stat for the Aggies was their 3-10 mark on layups at halftime, which proved costly down the stretch. 

In the third quarter, the Lions’ lead got bigger and the chances for the Aggies’ comeback got smaller. SLU went up 57-45 and had a lead as big as 17 in the ballgame.

However, the Aggies wouldn’t go down without a fight.

In the fourth quarter, USU got the lead down to two points following a 10-2 run. Utah State kept it close for two minutes until the barrier was too hard to hold. The Lions would go on a 10-0 run fueled by a couple of 3-pointers to close the Aggies out.

Guard Maria Carvalho also impressed for the Aggies today. She played all 40 minutes of the matchup. Carvalho had 17 points on 7-15 shooting, eight rebounds and four assists. 

“She is our engine. She never gets tired and even when she does her mental strength is just so strong,” Ard said. “I feel bad playing her for 40 minutes but we thought that as a staff that she would play 40 minutes for us tonight. I’m proud of her effort and all the girls.”

The Aggies as a team shot 23-51 from the field (45%) and 8-16 from deep, with five coming from Kimball. From the free-throw line, the Aggies shot 14-22, just 63.6%.

Utah State will travel to St. George to take on Utah Tech on Thursday, Nov. 15, before heading to the stomping grounds of Arkansas State in Jonesboro to take on the Red Wolves.

Featured image by Heidi Bingham from the College of Idaho game.