Aggie Women’s Basketball Opens Home Action With 73-63 Win Over Weber State Wednesday

LOGAN, Utah – Utah State women’s basketball used a 17-6 run to close out the first half and held off a late Weber State rally for a 73-63 win in the Aggies’ home-opener Wednesday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.USU improves to 2-1 on the young season, while WSU falls to 0-2. The Aggies are now 8-14 in home-openers, improving to 3-6 under head coach Raegan Pebley in their first home game of the season. USU is now 1-2 against WSU in home openers under Pebley. Tuesday was the Aggies’ fourth-straight win over the Wildcats, improving to 16-22.Ironically, Wednesday’s women’s score was the identical, 73-63, score as the men’s match-up of the same schools on Tuesday, with the home team winning that as well, but with the purple and white Wildcats prevailing over the Aggie men.Senior forward Ashlee Brown was one rebound shy of her third double-double of the season with 21 points and nine rebounds, netting at least 20 points in all three games this season.Fellow senior guard Brooke Jackson added 14 points, a USU-high for the transfer, hitting a team-high two three-pointers, while sophomore guard Jennifer Schlott added 10 points. For the second game in a row, 10 different Aggie players got involved in the scoring.Weber State was led by Justine Johnson’s 16 points, while Caela Mohre added 15 points.Brown’s game-high nine rebounds were followed by eight from junior center Banna Diop and seven from senior forward Maddy Plunkett, leading USU to a 38-28 rebounding advantage. WSU was led by five each from Mohre and Amanda Hughes.The Aggies came out of the locker room strong scoring six of the first eight points of the game, on the way to opening up an 18-6 lead at the 11:51 mark after a layup by Brown. With less than six minutes left in the half, the Wildcats came roaring back with a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 30-25. Two free throws by Jackson stopped an 8-0 run for the Wildcats after the Aggies went almost three minutes without scoring.From the 30-25 lead, Utah State used a 17-6 run to end the half, closing out the first frame strong, highlighted by three pointers by Jackson and junior guard Devyn Christensen. The half would end with the Blue and White taking a 47-31 lead in the locker room.At halftime, Brown led all starters with 15 points, while Jackson added 12 just one shy of her season high. Weber State was led by nine first-half points by both Johnson and Mohre. The halftime lead was the first of the season for the Aggies.In the second half, Weber State used a 10-2 run to cut the USU lead down to 49-41 with 17:08 left in the game. The Aggies fought back with sophomore guard Jennifer Schlott netting seven-straight points to eventually take a 56-41 lead at the 15:41 mark.USU’s lead grew to its largest of the night at 19 for the first of two times in the game at 63-44 on a layup by junior guard/forward Chelsea Burns with 10:40 to play. The Aggies got a chance to play some of their reserves, who held off a late Wildcat rally to preserve USU’s season-opening win.For the game, USU was 25-of-53 (47.2 percent) from the field, hitting 4-of-11 (36.4 percent) behind the three-point arc. The Aggies were also 19-of-25 (76.0 percent) at the free throw line, as they have made at least 75 percent from the charity stripe in all three games, as well as making more than the opponents have attempted.WSU was 40.0 percent (22-of-55) field goal shooting, making 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) from three-point range and the Wildcats were 12-of-15 (80.0 percent) at the free pitch stripe.Both teams had ball-hawking defense, which led to several turnovers, as both teams recording 28 turnovers, as WSU had 17 steals and USU had a season-best 15 steals. The Aggie defense also posted a season-high four blocks on the night.After its one-game homestand, the USU women hit the road again, heading to Irvine, Calif. to take on UC Irvine on Saturday, Nov. 19 in a 3 p.m. (MT) tipoff. The Aggies return home to the friendly confines of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.Fans can follow USU women’s basketball at http://twitter.com/UTAHSTATEofmind and Utah State athletics at http://twitter.com/USUAthletics.Live stats will be available for most Utah State women’s basketball games through the women’s basketball page on www.utahstateaggies.com, by clicking on GameTracker in the current events box. All home games can be viewed by clicking on “Watch Live”, while they can be heard by clicking on “Listen Live.” Both can be accessed on www.utahstateaggies.com on the front page or the women’s basketball page.For tickets contact the USU Athletics Ticket Office at (435)797-0305 or at 1-888-U-STATE-1 (1-888-878-2831) for more information or visit the Utah State athletic web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com.

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