Women fight for win
The Aggie women are one step closer to the Big West Tournament. With their 61-46 win against UC Irvine on Saturday at the Spectrum, the Utah State women’s basketball team is still fighting for eight place in the conference.
“Overall, I thought our kids played really hard, inspired,” said Utah State Head Coach Raegan Pebley. “They knew what was at stake.”
Christina Zdenek played an inspired game with her first double-double of the year with 21 points, to lead all scorers, and 11 rebounds.
“I knew it was a mistake last time [Thursday’s game] to not play aggressive in the second half,” said Zdenek. “You just have to do whatever you gotta do to get a win.”
Zdenek was not the only player with a double-double. Her “Aird”-ness, Ali Aird, pulled down 10 rebounds and added 14 points for the Aggies.
“We knew we had to come out tough and play tough for the whole 40 minutes,” said Aird.
In the first half the Aggies came out very aggressive both on offense and defense. In the first 2:36 USU took an quick 9-0 lead and didn’t look back, leading by as much as 12, and took a comfortable 32-23 lead into the locker room.
Terrin Johnston and Anne-Marie Torp proved key for the Aggies in the first half. Johnston hit two 3-pointers and had only one turnover in the first 20 minutes of play. During the second half Johnston continued to play well ending the game with 11 points and only three turnovers.
Torp looked much better than she did against Long Beach, where she was only 2-for-12 in the game. This time the Torpedo went 4-for-8 for eight points, all in the first half.
“Torp was a little more calm and did really good under pressure,” said Aird.
Pebley said, “Torp practices hardest at practice every day and even when she is hyper she gives us that spark.”
Turnovers proved key for the Aggies. In the first half USU had only 5 turnovers and ended the game with sixteen. UCI had 24 turnovers, oftentimes passing it right to Aird or handing it to Zdenek.
“We played very hard defensively,” said Pebley, “and we kept the turnovers down. That helps to not let defensive lapses hurt.”
Last time these two teams faced, the Aggies fell 45-66. The Anteaters were led by Joanna Usher’s career high 15 points. This time Usher had no points.
Kristen Green led the way for the Anteaters with 14 points. Senior Christina Callaway was not far behind with 11 points.
The Aggies will keep fighting for their place in the Big West Tournament next week against Idaho. It will be the last home game this season for the Aggie women.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu