Women’s basketball picks up a pair of home wins
Junior guard Devyn Christensen hit a go-ahead 3-pointer, with 3.4 seconds remaining, and USU held on to beat UC-Riverside 71-68 Friday in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
The win gave USU a home sweep, as it defeated Boise State 97-86 on Wednesday.
The five-foot-six Idaho native scored 15 points to lead all scorers and gave the Aggies the last-second win after the Highlanders erased a 14-point, second-half deficit and held a two-point edge, with 36 seconds to play.
“She’s got the ability,” Pebley said. “The last two games she’s been able to play pain free, and it’s showing in her mobility. She’s playing confidently.”
It was a sloppy first half by both teams. The Aggies took control early and led by eight, four minutes into the game, after Christensen hit a 3-pointer to put the Aggies up 11-3.
The Highlanders cut the lead in half on consecutive possessions and were down four, but the Aggies got back-to-back layups by senior forward Ashlee Brown and junior center Banna Diop.
A 3-pointer by senior guard Jackson gave USU an 11-point edge, with less than nine minutes remaining in the half.
Utah State maintained its lead for the remainder of the half, and UC-Riverside never got closer than four.
Pebley said the trap defense the Aggies executed was not as effective as she hoped it would be.
“Riverside was very well prepared for our traps,” Pebley said. “We weren’t able to get into our traps as much as we’d like to.”
Riverside had a good start to the second half. After three minutes of play the Highlanders cut the USU lead in half. After two free throws from freshman guard Jazzmin Lewis, the score was 35-31.
Then the Aggies found some momentum, and over the next five minutes Christensen and sophomore guard Schlott controlled the tempo.
The Aggies went on a 16-6 run to push their lead to 14. Christensen had four points and an assist in the stretch, with Schlott scoring five points.
Seniors Maddy Plunkett and Jackson also contributed to the offensive spurt.
The Highlanders chipped away at the deficit and again found themselves down two, with six minutes remaining.
Christensen then scored five of the next seven points during a 7-0 Aggie run and gave the Aggies a nine-point lead, with four minutes remaining.
The Highlanders went to work again and erased the deficit entirely. With about a minute left, Lewis hit a clutch 3-pointer and knotted the game at 64. Freshman guard Leah Washington gave Riverside its first lead of the game, 30 seconds later, with a layup in the lane.
“Give credit to them, they have really athletic players,” Christensen said. “We should never let another team dictate the pace, and we fell into that.”
The final 30 seconds was filled with fouls by both teams. Senior forward Ashlee Brown sank two free throws to tie the game at 68, and Riverside turned the ball over with 12 seconds to play.
Brown said she never doubted the Aggies’ shooting abilities.
“I was ready to take (the free throws),” Brown said. “People didn’t think the second one was going in, but I ran back, I knew it was. I knew (Christensen’s shot) was money — she’s a shooter and a scorer — I was proud of her for that. “
The Aggies broke the Highlanders’ full-court press, and Jackson found Christensen on the wing for her first career gamewinner.
“(Riverside) trapped and that left us in a fast-break situation,” Christensen said. “All I saw was the clock winding down, and I let it go. I was fortunate to have that shot go down.”
Utah State improves to 5-1 on the season with the win, while UC-Riverside dropped to 1-5. The Aggies start a three-game road trip as they travel to the University of Montana Nov. 30, Montana State on Dec. 2 and Idaho State on Dec. 10.
Aggies outrun Broncos, 97-86
Senior guard Brooke Jackson led the USU over Boise State with a career-high 27 points as the Aggies outgunned the Broncos 97-86 Wednesday at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
The Arizona transfer went 9 of 11 from the field, and 6 of 8 from the free-throw line, while pulling down a team-high five rebounds in the win.
“The kid can shoot,” head coach Raegan Pebley said of Jackson. “Every shot she takes, I think is going in. What’s special about her is how hard she works and how quickly she’s adapted to what we do. She’s playing like a veteran.”
Jackson got on track early
and started the scoring with a layup just 25 seconds into the game.
The Aggies made their first three shots from the field en route to an early 6-2 lead. The Broncos answered with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes, giving Boise a four-point advantage — its biggest lead of the first half.
In a fast-paced contest, the Aggies responded with a 10-0 run to open up a six-point edge with more than 13 minutes remaining in the first half. USU maintained its lead for most of the half, but Boise didn’t go away.
Senior forward Nicole Brady had a strong game for the Broncos and finished with a game-high 30 points to go with her 11 rebounds. The six-foot Utah native was 11 of 19 from the field and 5 of 7 from the free-throw line..
Each time the Aggies began to pull away, Brady found a way to close the gap.
With Boise State trailing six points, Brady scored the Broncos’ next seven points, while the defense limited USU to only one basket, and Boise trimmed the lead within one.
After the Aggies regrouped and pushed their advantage back to eight, Brady again led a 6-0 run to keep Utah State within striking distance. When the teams went into the half, the Aggies held a 39-38 lead.
“We hit a lot of big shots tonight,” senior center Maddy Plunkett said. “It was a great game for everyone tonight. We have to get better in practice, though; we’re working on our rebounding and defense.”
The second half started the same way the first half ended, as the teams pushed the pace of the game and traded back and forth in an offensive shootout.
With 12 minutes remaining, Brady hit a jumper from beyond the arc, and the Broncos held their largest lead of the game at 62-56.
The next three minutes belonged to the Aggies.
Jackson scored the next eight points of the game, as she hit back-to-back 3-pointers and then a layup to start an 18-3 Aggie run. After a layup from junior guard Devyn Christensen, Jackson added a steal and an assist to sophomore guard Jennifer Schlott.
Senior forward Ashlee Brown added a layup, Jackson sank two free throws, and the Aggie defense forced four turnovers and turned the six-point deficit into a nine-point advantage, with nine minutes remaining.
Four different Aggies scored during the run, as USU got contribution from seven different players on offense in the game.
“It was a battle,” Pebley said. “They had a good gameplan, and in the end it came down to the team that went on the last run. Obviously that was us.”
Boise got back to within four, with eight minutes to go, but Utah State led by as much as 14, as it pulled away down the stretch.
Utah State finished the game shooting 56.9 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from the 3-point line. The Aggies forced 19 turnovers and committed only 10. It was the first time this season that Brown was not the leading scorer.
With the win the Aggies improved to 4-1 on the year, while the Broncos fell to 3-2. The Aggies’ lone loss this season came to South Dakota State.
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu