Young Aggies struggle with mistakes against Fresno State
The Utah State women’s basketball collapsed against the pressure defense of Fresno State in a 55-47 loss in the second round of the Mountain West tournament on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
“It’s the same press we have, but we froze,” said head coach Jerry Finkbeiner. “We were working against it almost every day in practice. But tonight when the going got tough, very few of our players wanted the ball and wanted to attack the ball.”
Freshman guard Rachel Brewster connected on a jump shot to put USU up 44-43 with 7:17 left in the fourth quarter. The Aggies didn’t score another point until a free throw by sophomore center Hannah Hutchins with 42 seconds left in the game.
“I know Fresno State, if you look at their schedule, they probably had ten of these games,” Finkbeiner said. “They just took over. The last four or five minutes they willed themselves to win … They shut the door on us.”
In that fourth quarter, the Aggies scored just eight points on 2 of 13 shooting and committed seven turnovers. Utah State had 21 turnovers for the game, compared to seven for the more experienced Bulldogs.
“I think it (the pressure defense) definitely slowed us down,” said sophomore guard Funda Nakkasoglu. “Having a lot of inexperienced players, it kind of shook us up a little, scared us out a little… That did cause a lot of our turnovers.”
With more than half the roster composed of freshmen, USU faced a significant experience deficit against the upper classmen-laden Bulldogs.
“Down the stretch, Funda is probably, with her background, and Rachel Brewster with her background are probably the only ones that truly wanted the ball in their hands the last four and a half minutes,” Finkbeiner said. “As opposed to the Fresno State girls, juniors and seniors, they all wanted the ball in their hands. They all wanted to finish the game out.”
While frustrating, the loss was a further example of the youth of USU.
“It’s a classic difference between a senior-junior driven team and a team that’s just trying to get there,” Finkbeiner said.
Playing against Fresno State three times in the past 18 days gave the Aggies ample opportunity to see up close the intensity that has allowed the Bulldogs to be successful.
“I think just having that urgency,” Nakkasoglu said. “Knowing that it’s coming down to the wire, we need to get these last defensive stops, otherwise the game’s out of our hands.”
The loss knocked the young Aggies out of the tournament, but they have reason to be excited for the future.
“We’re as big as any team in the conference,” Finkbeiner said. “We have quickness. We have most things covered. We have four really good recruits coming in we really like.”
“We have a high-character team,” Finkbeiner continued. “I really look forward to coaching these girls next year.”
– thomas.sorenson@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @tomcat340