Women’s basketball gears up for MW tournament

Though the USU women’s basketball team lost their season finale at UNLV, their success toward the end of the regular season painted an encouraging picture for solid showing in the Mountain West conference tournament.

The Aggies (7-24, 5-13) closed off February with their first winning streak since last March, winning back-to-back games against Air Force (57-55) and San Jose State (86-78).

That short streak came after Utah State had lost eight of its last nine games and fallen to 3-12 in conference play. The Aggies finished ninth in the Mountain West.

The Falcons are the eighth seed in the tournament, finishing ahead of USU via tiebreaker and will be the Aggies’ first opponent. The two teams split the season series with each team winning at home. The game tips off at 2 p.m.

In the last month of the regular season, Utah State began shifting their team philosophy to feature a more hurry-up style. The payoff culminated with the 86-point showing in the final home game against San Jose State but there were signs of the new style’s effect in the games preceding that game. In the final six games of the regular season, USU averaged 64.8 points per game after averaging 54.3 in the first 12.

Despite the recent success, the Aggies have not proven competent away from Logan. The team is 1-15 in away/neutral site games this year, with the last win outside of the Spectrum coming on Dec. 6 against BYU in Provo. The last time Utah State won a neutral site game was in last year’s tournament opener 46-40 against Air Force.