Win No. 9: Lady hoops top Vandals
Leaving the University of Idaho Vandals in the dust Saturday night, the lady Aggies picked up the win in Mosow, Idaho, 57-53.
Vandal freshman post Katie Madison banked 28 points against the Aggies, but this powerhouse was not able to pull off a victory on her own turf.
“The game plan going in was to stop Madison,” Assistant Coach George Brosky said in a post-game radio interview. “She’s one of the better post players in the conference. We just tried to do our best to not let her go off too much and defend everybody else on the perimeter.” Senior forward Brittany Phillips was once again on top of the scoring for USU with 12 points. She was later taken out of the game with her maximum five personal fouls.
Sophomore guard Danyelle Snelgro, playing with an injured finger, totaled 10 points. Off the bench came Jamelah Brown with a goal in her mind of seven rebounds, which she proudly acquired, along with 11 points for her team.
Shooting 5-of-5 on the floor, including a 3-pointer, Brown played for 24 minutes. “Jamelah was extremely productive tonight,” Brosky said. “As soon as she came in, we felt the presence. She contributed on both ends of the floor, and Melah has strung together three or four really good games, and she’s becoming a really solid contributor for us.”
First-half play began with a Vandal lead of 12-4 after three minutes. Fighting through the lady Vandal defense and offense, the Aggies managed a 27-23 lead going into halftime. Twenty-seven turnovers for the Aggies left the team with a lot of ground to make up. But with 30 points for both teams in the second half, USU found a way to stay on top and gain the lead with little time left on the clock.
“We struggled a little bit with our execution,” Brosky said. “But, you know, again or kids didn’t give up and we played hard. In a game like this, it’s going to come down to who plays the hardest.”
Help came from each Aggie as they all got a chance to step in and play.
Junior forward Jenny Gross gave the team seven points and six rebounds in her 22 minutes of play, along with junior guard Taylor Richards, who was also playing injured, offering seven points and five rebounds.
USU now moves to 9-13 overall for their season play and 5-5 in their Western Athletic Conference play. Next up is a trip home for the Aggies.
They will be returning to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Feb. 15 to host the University of Nevada for the first time this season.
Watching the USU guards go head-to-head with the Nevada guards will be interesting, Brosky said.
“I just think that we have to stay together,” Brown said. “We have to keep running our stuff, keep executing. We have to continue to be patient when we’re running our stuff, and once again our defense is our best offense, so we just have to continue to play solid defense.”
-eawads@cc.usu.edu