Women’s basketball falls to CS Fullerton
The Utah State women’s basketball team could not hold onto an early lead as the Aggie women fell to Cal State Fullerton 71-59 Saturday night.
Ali Aird led a trio of scorers in double-figures with her 15 points. Christina Zdenek came out of her scoring slump to put 11 points up on the board and Brittany Tressler proved key at the beginning of the second half with her 11 points.
Stephanie Peterson-Grant, in just four minutes of play, managed to put seven points up on the board.
“We have some great players out there that play their hearts out,” said freshman Aggie Sammi Stuart.
During the first half the Aggies kept pace with the Titans. With just over five minutes left USU was tied at 22. Before the buzzer sounded the end of the half, the Titans went on a 7-0 run and took a 37-31 lead into the locker room.
The Aggie’s 31 points were just the second time this season that the Aggies have had over 30 points before the half.
Led by Tressler’s six points the Aggies came back out in the second half playing good basketball and with a 12-5 run took the lead at 43-42 with just over 12 minutes left to play.
The Titans, however, would rally behind a 26-5 run over the game’s next ten minutes of play.
“We don’t have the confidence we need to win,” said Utah State Head Coach Raegan Pebeley. “You’ve got to have the confidence that you can maintain a lead.”
The Aggies would not give up and continued to fight till the buzzer. USU closed the game with a 10-2 run that was too little too late.
Fullerton had a quartet in double figures. Charlee Underwood and Rochelle Ortega led the way with 17 apeice. Tamara Quinn, who hit the winning layup to defeat the Aggies when the two teams faced each other in Logan, notched 13 points on just 3-of-12 shooting from the field.
Amber Pruitt finished the game with 10 points in 10 minutes of play. The Aggies shot 40.9 percent from the floor, which was actually better than Fullerton’s 34 percent. But CSF won the game with shot attempts, putting up 17 more shots than the Aggies.
USU also won the battle of the boards pulling down 39 rebounds to the Titans 35. Only seven Aggie rebounds were on the offensive end.
USU returns to Logan where it plays its final three games of the season. The Aggies face Long Beach State on Thur. Feb. 26 and UC Irvine on Sat. Feb. 28. Thursday’s game tips-off at 7 p.m., while Saturday’s game begins at 1 p.m. USU’s final game of the season is against Idaho on Friday, March 5.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu