USU women complete sweep of Falcons with 61-55 win

Utah State women’s basketball eked out a 61-55 win over the Air Force Academy on Saturday afternoon to cap off the New Year’s weekend with a second consecutive victory over the Falcons. Utah State improved to 2-1 in conference play (4-4 on the season). 

With the game knotted up at 55, USU freshman guard Meagan Mendazona passed the ball to sophomore guard Faith Brantley who knocked down a corner three with 33 seconds to play, proving to be the dagger. 

FAITH!!!!!!#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/VrCjo7pzzo

— USU Women's Hoops (@USUWBasketball) January 2, 2021

“Faith hit that three that iced the game, and that was such a huge shot for us,” said Utah State head coach Kayla Ard. “It wasn’t the shot we were looking for right there, but Air Force took away the shot that we were looking for, and the fact that she had the confidence to knock that down was just so huge.”

Bre Mathews led the way for the Aggies with 15 points on 7-15 shooting while also pulling down nine rebounds. Other key contributors were graduate student Jessica Chatman who added 11 points and five rebounds and Mendazona who had nine points and seven rebounds. 

 “This game meant a lot,” Mathews said. “Coach has been saying that we need to get to .500, and we took that very seriously. We knew we’ve got to come out, we’ve got to play hard and we’ve got to be the tougher team. Our team is coming together every day.”

The Aggies struggled shooting the ball, going 6-21 from deep — just 28.6 percent — and 22-58 from the field for 37.9 percent. But their aggressiveness — playing stout defense and getting to the charity stripe 19 times — helped them get it done in the end. 

“We came out flat, our shots weren’t going in, we were out of synch, so it wasn’t pretty,” said Ard. “But they reached their goal at the end of the day and so I’m really proud of them, proud of the fight.”

Utah State won just two conference games all of last season, the start to this campaign is a welcome sign and a testament to the work Ard, her staff and the players have put in up to this point.

The Aggie’s next game is Thursday, Jan. 7 at home against the New Mexico Lobos.

sports@usustatesman.com

@jacobnielson12