Dec. 6, 2003

Final Stats

TUCSON, Ariz. - Christina Zdenek and Ali Aird notched season-highs of 17 and 16, respectively, as Utah State (0-3) fell to UMass (3-4) 61-50 in the opening round of the Fiesta Bowl Women's Classic Saturday. USU will now play the loser of Arizona versus America in the consolation game at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Lead by Zdenek's 12 first-half points the Aggies came out strong in the first half as the two teams had 12 lead changes in the opening 12 minutes of the game. The Aggies' biggest lead was two, as they went up 17-15 7:23 into the game off of a three-point basket by Zdenek. USU would then take what proved to be its final lead of the game at 22-21 with nine minutes left in the half. The Minutewomen would use a 13-4 run to close the half up, 39-27. Tamara Tatham led Umass in the first half with 10 points going 5-6 from the field.

"I thought we really played well in the first half except for two things," said head coach Raegan Pebley. "Turnovers and letting them have open looks at the three. We had 14 turnovers and No. 11 (Judit Zsedenyi) did a great job of knocking down the open three for them."

In the second-half USU's defensive intensity picked-up as they held Umass scoreless for the first 7:22 of the half. Unfortunately, USU was only able to cut the lead from 12 to eight during that time. UMass then found its offense and opened its lead to 20 with a 14-3 run.

USU then decided to take advantage of UMass' poor free-throw shooting and started to foul the Minutewomen. This tactic almost proved genius as Umass missed eight of its final 16 free-throw attempts and allowed Utah State to pull within nine. That would be as close as the Aggies would get as UMass defeated the Aggies 61-50.

"I thought we out-played them in the second half," said Pebley. "I thought Camille Brox did a great job for us getting to the basket and opening other opportunities for us. I thought our team took a step forward today."

As a team, USU had season-highs in field-goal percentage (39.1), three-point field goal percentage (44.4) and free-throw percentage (66.7) . USU continued to struggle with turnovers as it finished the game with 26 miscues.

UMass meanwhile shot 46 percent from the field and committed just 20 turnovers. However, the Minutewomen hit seven three-pointers enroute to the victory. The Minutewomen had a trio of players score in double-digits with Brooke Campbell leading the way with 19 points. Judit Zsedenyi pitched in 14 while Tamara Tatham notched 10.

USU will now play the loser of the America versus Arizona game in the consolation game of the Fiesta Bowl Classic. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday.

UTAH STATE (50) Torp 2, Tressler 4, Aird 16, Jennings 0, Zdenek 17, Peterson-Grant 6, Brox 0, Johnston 0, Freeman 1, Hagen 4

UMASS (61) Zsedenyi 14, Bailey 6, Tatham 10, Campbell 19, Foster 0, Sharpton 0, Maeweather 8, Govan 1, Massey 3