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Women’s basketball takes second in Thanksgiving Classic

By Joe Wangemann

The Aggies held their opponents to less than 50 points all weekend, but it wasn’t enough to win it all.

The Utah State women’s basketball team lost to Monmouth 48-44 in the championship game of the UTEP Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday in El Paso, Texas.

Senior guard Danyelle Snelgro led the Aggies with 12 points and three assists, while junior Lydia Whitehead added eight points.

Snelgro and fellow senior guard Ana Pares were named to the all-tournament team, which was chosen by the tournament’s four coaches.

Six players contributed points as the Aggies led by as many as 12 in the first half, finishing the period ahead 24-19.

The second half started slowly for USU as they went over seven minutes without scoring while Monmouth evened the score at 24-24. After six lead changes, the Hawks went on an 8-0 run to take the lead for good.

Utah State’s 19 turnovers translated into 19 points for Monmouth while the Aggies scored 12 points off Monmouth’s 18 turnovers. The Hawks’ bench outscored USU’s reserves 12-5. Monmouth also had the advantage in second-chance points, 11-3.

The Hawks were led by Jennifer Bender with a game-high 23 points, including 18 in the second half, and eight rebounds.

The loss came a day after the Aggies defeated Texas State in the first-round of the tournament, 50-47.

Against Texas State, Snelgro and Pares had 17 points to lead the Aggies to victory. Snelgro had a game-high four steals while junior Nicole Johnson led the team with seven rebounds.

The Aggies came out strong in the first half, taking an early 10-2 lead. Solid defense allowed the Aggies to end the first half ahead 23-13. Texas State’s 13 first-half points were the fewest allowed by the Aggies in a half this season.

The Bobcats rebounded a bit in the second half, going on a 6-0 run to cut the Aggies’ lead. Texas State was able to pull within one point with about five minutes remaining, but would get no closer as the Aggies held on for the three-point win.

The Aggies outshot Texas State from the field, shooting 40 percent from three-point range and 37.5 percent overall while the Bobcats shot 23.5 percent from behind the arc and 35.8 percent overall. USU also shot better from the free-throw line, shooting 66.7 percent versus 41.7 percent from Texas State. The Aggies went 11-18 from the charity stripe in the second half alone.

USU is now 3-3 this season, which is the best start for the Aggies since beginning the 2004-05 season 3-3 as well.

The Aggies will return to action against Eastern Washington on Saturday at 11 a.m.

-joseph.w@aggiemail.usu.edu