Jan. 14, 2009

Box Score | Photo Gallery

LOGAN, Utah - After leading by seven at halftime, Utah State was out-scored, 37-23, in the second half and lost to Nevada, 56-49, Wednesday in Western Athletic Conference women's basketball action at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

With the loss, USU is now 7-10 overall and 1-3 in WAC play, while Nevada maintains its spot atop the conference standings with a 3-0 league mark, improving to 9-7 overall. The Aggies are now 2-5 vs. the Wolf Pack in the last seven regular-season meetings while WAC foes, dropping five of the last seven match-ups overall, and Nevada now leads the overall series, 6-4.

Utah State was led by 11 points apiece from the senior guard tandem of Danyelle Snelgro and Ana Pares, as Pares kept her double-digit scoring streak alive and well at eight in a row with a bucket in the waning seconds. Senior forward Shawnta Pope added nine points and five rebounds off the bench in only 13 minutes of action.

WAC Preseason Player of the Year, Dellena Criner of Nevada, led all scorers with 22 points, while Shavon Moore tossed in 12 points. Cherlanda Franklin and Brandi Jones snared a game-leading nine rebounds each, as the Wolf Pack pounded the boards, with a 39-28 rebounding advantage, including 11 on the offensive glass which led to an 8-0 second-chance points advantage for Nevada. Utah State was led by junior forward Lydia Whitehead's seven rebounds.

Snelgro, who in USU's last outing on Saturday became the Aggies' career all-time steals record holder, padded her total with a season-best six swipes Wednesday, while dishing out four assists, both of which were game-highs. Nevada was led by Criner and Franklin with four steals.

USU shot 17-of-51 (33.3 percent) from the floor, making 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) from three-point range as well as 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) at the free throw line. Nevada shot 42.3 percent (22-of-52) field goal shooting, missing all four of its three-pointers, but was 12-of-16 (75.0 percent) at the charity stripe. Criner was 6-of-6 at the free pitch line, netting four free throws in the final 19 seconds to deny any Aggie rally.

A 7-0 run to close out the first half, capped by a layup from Pope, gave USU a 26-19 halftime lead and the Aggies' largest lead of the night.

Utah State was later leading 30-25 before seven unanswered points from Nevada gave the Wolf Pack a 32-30 lead. Nevada stretched its advantage to 40-35 and never looked back, as the closest USU got the rest of the game was two at 42-40 on a pair of Pope free throws with 9:41 to play. A 10-2 Nevada spurt, capped by a layup by Criner gave the Wolf Pack a 52-42 lead with 3:37 left and closed out the victory.

The Aggies will conclude their four-game home stretch on Saturday, Jan. 17, taking on defending WAC Champion Boise State on Saturday, Jan. 17. The game against the Broncos is the first half of a doubleheader with the men's team. The women will play at 3 p.m., while the men take the court at 7 p.m.

All Utah State women's basketball games can be heard on KLGN (1390 AM) in Logan with Evan Nyman calling the play-by-play and Ashley Rutledge providing color commentary for home games. They can also be heard on the web by going to the Utah State Athletics home page at www.UtahStateAggies.com.

Aggie basketball tickets are available by contacting 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.