Women’s basketball records first win
The Utah State women’s basketball earned its first win of the season on Tuesday night. The Aggies took on Prairie View A&M University in the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout in the first round. USU came away with a 67-66 victory behind heroics from senior Devyn Christensen.
Christensen hit the game-winning 3-pointer with eight seconds left on the clock. Latia Williams hit a layup for the Lady Panthers to give them the lead with 51 seconds remaining in regulation. Christensen hit a three on the next possession for the Aggies, tying the game 64-64 with 33 seconds left on the clock. Williams came right back at USU and gave PVAMU a two point lead with 20 seconds left. Christensen made one final play and hit the dagger.
With the win, USU head coach Jerry Finkbeiner got his first win at the helm of the Aggies, who improve to 1-3 on the season. Prairie View will continue the season without a win yet, falling to 0-3.
Christensen finished the game with 24 points, including six 3-pointers and a career-high eight assists. Senior Jenna Johnson, a native of Alaska, chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.
Kiara Etienne led the PVAMU Lady Panthers with 21 points. Teammate Latie Williams added 17 points and eight boards.
The first half was fast-paced with both teams hitting buckets and trading leads. USU had the biggest lead of the half at six right out of the gates, but PVAMU fought back and took the lead 10-9 with 15 minutes left in the half.
The Lady Panthers kept scraping away and pushed the lead to 23-19 with nine minutes left. The Aggies fought back, and a Johnson putback put USU on top 27-25.
USU went into halftime with a 36-34 lead. It was the first time all season the Aggies went into the break leading in the game.
The Aggies came out strong to start the second half and pushed their lead to 51-39, but the Lady Panthers fought their way back into the game.
With nine minutes remaining in the game, PVAMU cut the USU lead to three points following a Chelsea Azore field goal. The Lady Panthers took the lead with four minutes left in regulation 60-59.
The two teams continued to trade baskets until the final seconds when Christensen drained the game-winning three and give the Aggies their first win.
USU will play the University of Alaska Anchorage on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the championship game. UAA defeated North Dakota State University 73-47 to earn a spot in the final.
NDSU and PVAMU will play in the consolation game.
-jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @JBorba15