Jan. 10, 2004

Final Stats

LOGAN, Utah - Christina Zdenek scored a season-high 31 points, including a game-winning three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in the contest to lead Utah State's women's basketball team to its first victory of the year, a 76-73 win against Cal Poly here Saturday afternoon.

"We needed that," said USU head coach Raegan Pebley. "We kept telling the kids to just keep getting better every game and we will be o.k. and we will be able to compete with the best teams in the conference."

Zdenek launched a running three-pointer from about 25 feet that found the net and gave the Aggies their first win in 11 tries this season. USU improved to 1-10 on the year and 1-2 in Big West Conference play, while Cal Poly fell to 6-7 and 2-2.

USU held a five-point lead at 70-65 with 1:05 remaining after two Ali Aird free throws. However, Cal Poly tied the game at 73 with :07 left on a three-pointer by Jennifer Dooley. With no timeouts remaining USU inbounded the ball and Zdenek took it over the timeline before hitting the long distance runner.

"It is a relief that Christina hit that shot, but I was confident that if we went into overtime we would win," Pebley said. We have been in an overtime situation before and I felt confident we would win on our home court."

The game was marred by a combined 52 turnovers and 52 fouls. While both teams shot below 50 percent from the field, as Cal Poly made 44 percent of its shots and USU hit on 37.5 percent, the teams did well at the free throw line. USU was 26 of 33 for 78.8 percent, while the visitors made 22 of 30 for 73.3 percent.

After leading 35-32 at halftime, USU shot 46.2 percent in the second half, scoring mainly on layups and three pointers. The Aggies pushed their second half lead to as many as eight points at 49-41 with 13:58 left before Cal Poly went on a 12-3 run to gain a 53-52 lead with 8:05 left.

USU regained the lead and led by four (57-53) as the teams kept it close until the end.

Ashley Anderson and Aird each scored 12 points for the Aggies, while Brittany Tressler added a game-high six rebounds. Cal Poly was led by point guard Sparkle Anderson, who scored 21 points in 19 minutes before fouling out with 1:05 left in the game.

Zdenek's previous scoring high was 19 at Western Michigan and her 31 points marked the most points by an Aggie this season, topping Aird's 26 points against Northern Colorado.

USU will travel to Pacific on Thursday and to Cal State Northridge on Saturday. Cal Poly will travel to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.