Women’s basketball surprised by BYU-Idaho
In a game that told two stories, the Utah State University women’s basketball team was defeated 85-67 Saturday at the Spectrum by BYU-Idaho.
Going into Saturday’s game, USU coach Chalyce Stevens said she was hoping BYU-Idaho wouldn’t be as good as they had been because this is their last year as a team, but soon found out otherwise.
After getting off to a 5-0 lead, the Aggies looked like they had things under control, Stevens said, but after numerous turnovers caused by bad passing that BYU-Idaho capitalized on, the first half ended 54-27 with USU behind.
At halftime, Stevens said she walked in the locker room and slammed her clipboard on the ground to get the team’s attention. From there the team knew what they had to do.
Making a few changes in the second half, the Aggies started Brooke Bowman, Tara Earl and Alicia Carole with the intent of getting something started, Stevens said.
The turnaround in the Aggies’ performance began with Carole, who stepped up the defense, which in turn carried the offense, Stevens said.
From there Bowman and Earl really turned it on, she said, and the Aggies began to fight back.
“They [Bowman and Earl] showed me something I knew was there, but I hadn’t seen,” Stevens said.
In the second half, with the crowd in the game and a few three-pointers from Carole, the Aggies outscored BYU-Idaho 40-31.
USU also had a little help from the free-throw line.
“We went 32 for 42 on our free throws,” Stevens said. “What we’re looking to key on is free throws, they can make or break the game.”
Despite the outcome of the second half, the Aggies could never make up the 27-point gap BYU-Idaho created in the first half.
“We dug ourselves in a hole we couldn’t get out of,” assistant coach Shanna Stevens said.
The Aggies are a little frustrated because of how it ended, Chalyce Stevens said, but are excited with how the second half went.
“I’m hoping the second half will carry over into our Snow game Saturday,” she said.