Women fall short of taking over second place in Fresno
It was a tale of two halves for the Aggie women’s basketball team Saturday in Fresno, Calif.
Despite leading the Fresno State Bulldogs (17-7, 8-2 WAC) 38-31 after 20 minutes of play, USU (13-11, 7-4) could not seal the deal in a contest involving sole possession of second place in the conference at stake, falling 81-63.
After closing much of the end of the first half on a 14-2 run, the Aggies fell flat in a second half that USU head coach Raegan Pebley said was characterized by a Bulldog full court
press that stymied the Aggies.
The visitors were outscored 50-25 in the second stanza.
“We turned the ball over way too much against their full-court pressure where we couldn’t just get set up,” Pebley said.
The Bulldogs’ harassing second-half pressure forced several Aggie turnovers and kept Logan’s own from establishing their second-half offensive sets.
“I’m not infuriated at our team, but it sucks to lose. We can continue to get better,” Pebley said.
There was at least one highlight in an overall disappointing result for a program which has never finished higher than third since it was reborn in 2002. Senior guard Alice Coddington snatched two steals to reach a career total of 214, tying for the school record also held by former Aggie and current assistant coach Danyelle Snelgro.
Coddington also added seven points and four rebounds in the contest.
While the Bulldogs shot just 8-23 from the 3-point line, far below both their conference-leading 3-pointers made and 3-point percentage averages, guard Rosie Mount did hit 5-8 bombs for 19 points to lead Fresno. The Bulldogs shot 51 percent from the field overall and won the rebounding battle 35-30, while forcing 23 Aggie turnovers.
Forward Taja Edwards also scored 19 points to pace Fresno, who remains two games behind Louisiana Tech for first place in the WAC.
USU countered with 22 points on 10-12 shooting and five rebounds from forward Ashlee Brown, while guard Devyn Christensen, who made her fifth career start as Brown recovers from an ankle injury, had 18 points, six steals and five assists. However, the sophomore also committed six turnovers and shot just 6-18 from the floor.
The Aggies started the contest with guns blazing, hitting better than 64 percent from the field and 50 percent from the three-point line. However, against the Fresno full-court press, they went bitter cold in the second half, shooting just over 30 percent overall while drawing a goose egg from long-distance (0-8).
Pebley’s concerns about the loss echoed the poor post-intermission performance that her team displayed.
“It’s really disappointing for both the girls and the coaching staff, and there’s a reason I say both, because both sides are accountable for not making the adjustments to what Fresno was throwing at us coming into the second half,” said Pebley, in her eighth year as head coach.
Fresno accentuated the rally with two 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half.
Pebley was also observant of the need for her team to improve a few key elements of their collective game as the all-important WAC Tournament draws near.
“We need to reflect the pace and pressure that Fresno showed us,” she said, citing the need for her team to refine decision-making against the press.
While Brown displayed another monster scoring night in her second game back after a three-game absence in which the Aggies went 3-0, Pebley insisted that her team’s successful play down the stretch relies on several individuals.
“(Brown) is going to continue to impact the team as an efficient scorer, but there are many spokes to this wheel,” Pebley said. “Our success is dependent upon the effort of every single player.”
The Aggies’ continued drive to stay in the top tier of the WAC will resume this Saturday, Feb. 19 at Idaho at 3 p.m.
– rhett.wilkinson@aggiemail.usu.edu