USU WBB: Ags run out of steam in the fourth quarter, lose to Boise State

LOGAN — Utah State Women’s Basketball dropped its seventh consecutive game in a loss to Boise State, 56-73, falling to 3-12 on the season and 0-4 in conference play.

While the final score may show a 17-point deficit, the Aggies actually lead for most of the contest.

USU spent 17:59 of the game leading and only trailed for 16:45 minutes with the other five minutes tied.

After only allowing seven points in the first quarter, the Aggie offense just couldn’t support the defense.

Utah State shot just 2-16 from the arc and 18-59 from the field and it proved costly while the Broncos shot 9-28 from deep and 24-62 from the field. 

“I don’t think we’ve done very good — defensively — at all,” head coach Kayla Ard said. “I think we did better tonight buying into the game plan but we have to fight through fatigue.”

Prior to the season, Ard said that defense was their main focal point and to hear her lack of love for her team’s defensive struggles is just the start of where this 3-12 team’s struggles are at.

Despite Ard’s thoughts on the defense, there were some positives.

The Aggies forced Boise State into 16 turnovers and drew 19 fouls and had 15 points off of Boise State turnovers. 

However, the Aggies surrendered 14 of their own turnovers and had 27 fouls.

So where did this game go wrong for the Aggies? Ard said it came with 3:45 left in the third quarter where the Aggies trailed 41-40. Utah State turned it over after dribbling it off their own legs and Boise State capitalized with an and-one on the other end.

Boise State would then go on a 30-16 run to close out the game.

“That was a big swing and it seemed like it killed our momentum. I think that really hurt us. We battled and fought but the fourth quarter where we just weren’t good at scoring the basketball,” Ard said.

The Aggies played this game without their leading scorer, guard Maria Carvalho, who was seen wearing a boot.

Ard said she did not know the severity of the injury and hopes it is not season-ending.

It was a great game for guard Tamiah Robinson who had 14 points. In addition to her offense, she had four steals and two blocks to pair with five rebounds for the Aggies.

Forward Prima Chellis provided 112 points and seven rebounds in her effort.

Utah State will turn to face Nevada on Jan. 14 in Reno in hopes of ending their seven-game slide.

Featured image by Phil Weber.