Utah State women’s basketball ready to run, gun and have fun
New season. New coach. New expectations.
The Utah State women’s basketball team is coming off its best season in school history. The team had its first 20-plus-win season in 2011-12, finishing with a 21-12 record. USU also made the Women’s National Invitation Tournament for the second-consecutive year.
“I have high expectations for the girls,” USU head coach Jerry Finkbeiner said. “I think the key will be is if we can stay healthy and if we can survive our first eight out of nine road games. So if we can stay healthy and survive the first month of the season, this team, I predict, will get better with each week. I’m looking forward to peaking at the end of February.”
Expectations this year are even higher for the Aggies, who were tabbed by the coaches and media to finish No.1 in the Western Athletic Conference. USU received seven of 10 first place votes and a total of 78 points to edge out Louisiana Tech in the coaches poll. In the media poll, the Aggies earned nine off the 18 first place votes.
“If we are patient with ourselves and our fans are patient with us, we have a chance to defend that preseason acknowledgment we got,” Finkbeiner said. “Right now we’re not a WAC favorite, I don’t think, but I do believe in two-and-a-half, three months from now we will be competing for that championship and that No.1 seed.”
Much of these high expectations are due to USU star player Devyn Christensen and a great supporting cast from last season returning. Christensen, now a senior, was a First-Team All-WAC player in 2012 and enters the 2013 season as the preseason player of the year. In 2012 Christensen, led the Aggies in scoring at 15.1 points per game. She also shot 38 percent from beyond the arc, connecting on 64 3-pointers.
“With me being one of the leaders of the team, I have to do a solid job of keeping my head where it needs to be mentally and making sure the team is focused, making sure I’m focused and making sure everyone feels apart of things,” Christensen said. “With the offense we play where it’s so fast and everyone gets shots it won’t be as big as an issue, but keeping everyone involved is something I will be focused on doing.”
Along with Christensen, senior Jenna Johnson, junior Jennifer Schlott and sophomores Elise Nelson and Franny Vaaulu make their return to the Aggies lineup.
“I think Franny will be a big key,” Christensen said. “She is our big player down low and she has such a big body. If she can just go to the hoop strong, she’s going to have a big impact.”
USU is also expecting big things from freshman guard Makenlee Williams.
“Mak has a chance to be an impact player for us,” Finkbeiner said. “She has the three and can drive to the hole.”
Finkbeiner was hired by USU April 26 after a successful 16-year run while at the helm of Oral Roberts.
During his time at ORU, Finkbeiner averaged 17 wins with the Golden Eagles and led them to eight postseason appearances in the last 13 years, including five trips to the NCAA tournament and three appearances in the WNIT.
Finkbeiner comes to USU with the philosophy of run, gun and have fun. This means the Aggies will push the tempo, shoot early and fast, play full-court press and hopefully put up a lot more points.
“He just wants us running and gunning,” Christensen said. “He doesn’t care if we are shooting a bunch of shots.”
Although the USU offense will get a lot of the glamour, the team knows it needs to work on its defense to be successful this season and live up to the high expectations.
“Our strengths would have to be offense,” Christensen said. “Our weakness is obviously rebounding. As obvious as strong as we are on offense, it’s just as obvious that defensively we need to get our head in rebounding. We just have to be more physical because sometimes we are more of a finesse team and I think we need to get more of that grit-your-teeth mentality.”
Finkbeiner says he wants to get 15 steals per game and lead the country in that category.
“We are going to give up some shots but those steals usually give us two or three points so that evens things out for missed rebounds,” Finkbeiner said.
USU played one exhibition game this year, beating New Mexico Highlands 81-72 on Nov. 2 thanks in part to Christensen’s 32 points to lead all scorers.
The Aggies officially get their season started Nov. 12 and will have to withstand a tough stretch playing eight of their first nine games on the road.
“It will be difficult, but that is a challenge that we like to have because if we can go on the road and win some games and come home with some momentum, then you’re setting yourself up nice,” Christensen said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way honestly. I love to play at home in the Spectrum but it’s a good challenge for us and I’m excited about it.”
The first road trip includes games against rivals Utah and BYU.
USU
will also travel to South Bend, Ind., to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Dec. 8.
“That’s a good challenge, somebody that competes in the tournament every year and makes it to the Final Four and National Championship, just to see where our athletes match up to theirs and what kind of effort we can give,” Christensen said.
USU will play their first home game Dec. 1 when they host Montana State. USU will have home games against non-WAC opponents UC Irvine and South Dakota on Dec. 18 and 20 respectively. WAC action begins on Dec. 29 when the Aggies host WAC-newcomer UTSA.
– jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @JBorba15