Utah State women’s basketball downs Haskell
Utah State women’s basketball evened its record at 3-3 Friday with a 90-63 win over NAIA Division II opponent Haskell Indian Nations.
The Aggies’ young squad totalled a season-high final score in the contest, led by sophomore Funda Nakkasoglu’s 27 points on 9 of 11 shooting.
“Two of the three games we’ve lost were teams just like this,” said head coach Jerry Finkbeiner. “We needed this game to get back on a winning track, trying to create some momentum.”
Nakkasoglu entered the game averaging 18 points per game, tied for the best in the Mountain West. The guard also tied a career-high with nine assists in the contest.
“Funda only played 24 minutes and had 27 points,” Finkbeiner said. “That’s a great individual effort.”
Utah State’s starting unit, comprised almost entirely of freshmen, performed admirably, despite their apparent inexperience. Starters accounted for 77 of the Aggies’ points Friday, bolstered by forward Tijana Djukic’s 19 and freshman all-purpose guard Rachel Brewster’s 17.
Brewster, whom Coach Finkbeiner tabs as the team’s defensive anchor, added five rebounds, four steals and three assists in the contest.
“She is our defensive captain,” Finkbeiner said. “We can take a lot of good stuff away from the game emotionally, and probably even better stuff on the videotape because we did some things tonight we haven’t done in the past.”
Despite a slow start, the Aggies had no problem with HINU through two quarters, enjoying a 51-27 halftime advantage. Haskell managed to force 16 Aggie turnovers but struggled from beyond the arc, connecting on just 10 of 37 three-pointers.
“One of our main focuses was our defense,” Nakkasoglu said. “We want to start running more often. We look toward that because when conference time comes, we’re a transition team.”
Nakkasoglu emphasized the Aggies plan to build on their energetic effort on defense.
“It makes it so much easier on offense,” Nakkasoglu said. “We’ve got a lot of good shooters around the perimeter. There’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
Utah State next faces Idaho State on the road in Pocatello, Idaho on Tuesday before squaring off at Utah Valley in Orem, Utah.
— logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @logantj