by Amos Naismith
February 19, 2006 (c) TrueAggies.com
Exclusive to TrueAggies.com
LOGAN, Utah – The Utah State women’s basketball team let their third league victory slip from their grasp as a five point half time lead fell to a 13 point loss against visiting Hawaii on Saturday. A late surge helped the Rainbow Wahine crush the Aggies 63-50.
Ali Marchant and Jessica Freeman led the way for the Aggies with 11 points each. Taylor Richards narrowly missed a double-double, scoring 9 and hooking up 8 assists. Freeman ended the night with 7 rebounds.
The Aggies started out well controlling play in the first half and getting out to an 8-7 lead at about the 10-minute mark. A 3-pointer from Rutledge with a few minutes remaining in the half gave USU their largest lead of the night at 26-17. Although Hawaii was able to put together a 6-2 run, cutting the Utah State lead down to 28-23 by the intermission.
Luck was on the Aggies’ side starting the second half as Freeman made a play to save a loose ball from going out at the 19:10 mark. As Freeman dove to save the ball she blindly threw it back in play behind her and into the hands of Danyelle Snelgro who was clear for the two-point basket. Snelgro’s basket gave the Aggies a 30-23 lead.
Somewhere midway through the second half, things started to click for the Rainbow Wahine and unravel for the Aggies. With about 13 minutes to play the Wahine were able to get their own rebound 3 times on the same play and then score to tie the game at 37-37.
The Aggies countered quickly with a two-point bucket from Marchant. But, the Bows answered with their counter punch knocking in three-pointer for a 40-39 lead.
Freeman was able to get Utah State even again at 43-43 with 6:45 to go, but at that point the game fell completely in Hawaii’s favor. For the last six minutes and 45 seconds the Bows outscored the Aggies 20-5.
The loss puts Utah State at 3-19 on the year and 2-10 in the WAC.
The Aggies have two more games remaining on this home stand as they take on Boise State Thursday at 7:00 pm, and Nevada on Saturday at 4:30 pm.
Boise State nearly doubled Utah State when the Aggies traveled to Boise earlier in the year, taking a 70-38 thrashing from the Broncos. Nevada topped the Ags 64-54 in Reno in January.
The Nevada game will be part of a double header with the men’s basketball team taking on Nevada’s men’s team immediately following.You can email feedback, or comments and suggestions to Amos at amosnaismith@trueaggies.com
Official Basketball Box Score
Hawaii vs Utah State
02/18/06 5:00 p.m. at Logan, Utah (Dee Glen Smith Spectrum)
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VISITORS: Hawaii 15-8, 6-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
13 Sanders, Amy........ f 7-20 1-5 2-2 2 1 3 2 17 3 4 0 4 40
43 Tambini, Pam........ f 0-5 0-0 6-8 4 8 12 0 6 1 2 1 1 40
34 Spooner, Callie..... c 3-8 0-0 1-2 4 3 7 4 7 0 2 0 0 21
04 Taylor, Janevia..... g 4-13 1-4 8-8 2 2 4 1 17 1 1 0 2 39
12 Kotani, Amy......... g 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 7
15 Solia, Dalia........ 1-3 0-0 2-3 0 4 4 1 4 0 0 0 0 21
22 Chretien, Cassidy... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
33 Smith, Tanya........ 3-13 0-0 4-4 7 3 10 4 10 0 2 1 1 26
45 Lee, Amber.......... 0-4 0-0 2-2 2 1 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 5
TEAM................ 3 4 7
Totals.............. 18-67 2-9 25-29 25 27 52 14 63 6 12 2 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-35 22.9% 2nd Half: 10-32 31.3% Game: 26.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-4 0.0% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 22.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-8 87.5% 2nd Half: 18-21 85.7% Game: 86.2% 1
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HOME TEAM: Utah State 3-19, 2-10
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 Rutledge, Ashley.... f 2-8 2-8 0-0 0 1 1 3 6 3 1 0 0 34
12 Gross, Jenny........ f 2-5 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 4 4 0 1 0 1 16
35 Freeman, Jessica.... c 4-6 0-0 3-4 3 4 7 3 11 1 2 2 1 27
04 Snelgro, Danyelle... g 1-6 0-2 0-0 3 3 6 3 2 0 3 0 1 25
21 Brox, Camille....... g 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 1 0 0 5 0 0 16
11 Richards, Taylor.... 4-12 1-4 0-2 1 2 3 0 9 8 1 1 0 34
13 Torp, Anne-Marie.... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 1
22 Tressler, Brittany.. 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
34 Marchant, Ali....... 4-12 0-0 3-6 2 7 9 4 11 0 2 2 0 25
45 Hagen, Brittany..... 2-5 1-4 0-0 2 2 4 2 5 0 0 1 0 21
TEAM................ 3 2 5 1
Totals.............. 20-58 4-20 6-12 14 25 39 22 50 12 16 6 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-32 31.3% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 34.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-11 27.3% 2nd Half: 1-9 11.1% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 50.0% 4
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Officials: Jack Jones, Les Williams, Kelly Copeland
Technical fouls: Hawaii-None. Utah State-None.
Attendance: 726
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Hawaii........................ 23 40 - 63
Utah State.................... 28 22 - 50