by Amos Naismith
February 25, 2006 (c) TrueAggies.com
Exclusive to TrueAggies.com
LOGAN, Utah – Turning the ball over 31 times in a game can never be good for a team’s chances to win.
The Utah State women’s basketball team found that out as Nevada took over the game beating the Aggies 67-51 in their last home game of the season on Saturday night.
Ashley Rutledge and Danyelle Snelgro led the Aggies, scoring 10 points each. Rutledge also pulled down a career high six rebounds in her last game in the Spectrum. There were two other Aggie seniors, Jessica Freeman and Ali Marchant, who played their last game in the Spectrum. Freeman scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Marchant went 3-3 from the field scoring seven points.
Utah State grabbed an early lead and didn’t let it go for most of the first half.
At the 16:25 mark Snelgro came up with the ball and broke down court. As she closed in on the hoop she laid a pass off to Taylor Richards. Finding herself double-teamed Richards kicked out to an open Freeman on the free throw line who made the short jumper putting the Aggies up 8-3.
The Wolf Pack tied the game up at 12-12 when they intercepted in an inbound pass under the Aggie basket and sank a lay-up with 9:40 remaining. Jenny Gross put in a free throw five seconds later to regain the Aggie lead and send Utah State on their best run of the night.
USU scored nine compared to Nevada’s two to reach a 24-14 lead with 5:28 before the break. For the remaining five minutes of the half Nevada would take back the game scoring 16 points to Utah State’s single point coming from a foul shot scored by Rutledge at 2:40.
When play resumed for the second half the Wolf Pack weren’t done. They continued to score and force the Aggies to turn over the ball. Before Utah State could score in the second half Nevada scored eight more.
The deficit was too much for Utah State as the Aggies fell to 3-21 on the season and 2-12 in the WAC. They close out their season taking trips to Fresno State and San Jose State. The Aggies will take on Fresno State on March 2, while San Jose State will be on March 4.
You can email feedback, or comments and suggestions to Amos at amosnaismith@trueaggies.com