Dec. 8, 2009
LOGAN, Utah -
GAME #7Utah State (3-3) at Idaho State (2-7)Saturday, Dec. 12, 2:00 p.m. • Pocatello, Idaho • Reed Gymnasium (3,241)Radio Broadcast: 1390 AM • www.UtahStateAggies.com
TIP OFF - For the second-straight game, Utah State will take on Idaho State. In this match up, the Aggies will travel to Pocatello to take on the Bengals on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. Last week, Idaho State edged Utah State, 56-53, in a tightly contested game at the ASU Classic in Tempe, Ariz.
THE OPPONENT - Idaho State ended its three-game losing streak with a, 56-53, victory over Utah State and captured its first Division I victory of the season. Over three games, the Bengals have improved its field goal accuracy to 35.7 percent and three-point field goal accuracy to 33.6 percent. Idaho State's Andrea Videbeck, Oana Iacovita and Ashleigh Vella are all hitting at or above 40 percent from the field. With the win, ISU improved to 2-0 against the Aggies under current head coach Seton Sobolewski. Overall, the two teams have pla- yed 25 times with Utah State clinging to a 13-12 series advantage. Before facing the Aggies, the Bengals have one more road game to end a five-game stint away from Pocatello. ISU travels to Minnestoa to take on the Golden Gophers on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Idaho State continues to be led by Oana Iacovita who averages 12.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
AMONG THE TOP IN THE WAC - Senior Lydia Whitehead is third this week in the WAC in rebounding. The center has 46 total rebounds this season for an average of 7.7 rebounds per game. She has 17 offensive and 29 defensive this season. Junior guard/forward Amber White is first this week in three-point field goal percentage (.667). Junior guard Alice Coddington is second in the league in steals, averaging 2.67 steals per game. The junior has 16 steals in six games.
UTAH STATE VS. WCC CHALLENGE - Utah State concluded its tour through the West Coast Conference. Pepperdine was the third WCC team that USU has faced when the Waves defeated the Aggies on Friday, Dec. 4. at the ASU Classic. USU is 1-2 against the West Coast Conference this season with a road win against Portland on Nov. 16 and a loss to San Francisco on the road on Nov. 22.
BLOCK PARTY - Senior forward Nicole Johnson had two blocks in USU's loss against Idaho State on Dec. 5. With the pair of blocks, Johnson now has 92 career blocks which places her second all-time behind Jessica Freeman who had 127 from 2003-06. Johnson now needs 35 more blocks to tie Freeman. Last season, the senior had 56 blocks.
As a team, Utah State has an impressive 20 blocks in six games this season, averaging 3.33 bpg. Red-shirt freshman Banna Diop is 13th in the WAC in blocks, averaging 0.80 bpg. She has four blocks in the five games in which she played.
TOUGH ON THE ROAD - The Aggies are 1-3 on the road this season or at neutral sites, and they have had the most turnovers this season in those games. In the loss to Pepperdine, USU had a season-high 24 turnovers. The previous high had been 19 in a loss to San Francisco on the road on Nov. 22. In the Aggies road win against Portland, they had a season-low 15.
STEALING THE SHOW - Junior guard LaCale Pringle-Buchanan had a solid game against former team Pepperdine on Dec. 4. She had a season-high five steals in the loss to the Waves. She also played a season-high 17 minutes. Her playing time has been gradually increasing with each game. Against Idaho State, she had a career-high 14 points in the loss.
CODDINGTON CLIMBING THE CHARTS - Behind her eight-steal performance against Idaho State on Dec. 5, junior guard Alice Coddington is rising the WAC charts. She is now second in the league behind Boise State's Jessica Van Hoogen who is first averaging 2.78 steals per game. Coddington is a close second, averaging 2.67 spg. She has a total of 16 steals in six games this season.
SHARP SHOOTING AGGIES - There are three Aggies in the top 10 in the WAC in three-point shooting. Amber White is still first in the league in three-point field goal percentage (.667). Freshman guard TJ Goddard is third in the WAC, shooting .500, while junior guard Alice Coddington is 10th, shooting .350. As a team, USU is fifth in the WAC from beyond the arc (.333). The Aggies have made 32 three pointers so far this season.
CAREER DAY - A trio of juniors had career days for Utah State in the Aggies' win against Utah on Nov. 13. Guard/forward Amber White scored a career-high 25 points in the win. Her previous high was 10 points in a loss to Fresno State last season. Guard Alice Coddington also had a banner day, scoring a career-high 18 points. Her previous high was 12 points against San Jose State last season. Forward Stacey Howard also added a career-high seven points. Last season, she set a career-high with five points against UNLV.
UP NEXT - After a three-game road trip to Tempe and Pocatello, Utah State will head home to take on North Dakota State in an afternoon match up on Monday, Dec. 14. This is the first meeting between the Bison and the Aggies. Utah State will sponsor School Day on Dec. 14 where elementary school kids are welcome. The kids will be given the opportunity to fill out worksheets and win prizes. Following the game against North Dakota State, USU will prepare for an instate battle with BYU on Saturday, Dec. 19. The game will be televised on the CW 30.
GETTING INVOLVED - Every Utah State player capable of playing saw time in the Aggies win over Montana Western on Nov. 28. There were 12 different Aggies that scored of the 13 that played. Only freshman guard Pualei Furtado didn't score, but she contributed in different ways adding four rebounds and two steals in her first action of the season. Redshirt-freshman Banna Diop scored a career-high 13 points in a career-high 21 minutes. USU scored more points off the bench than the Montana Western did in the game with the Aggies edging the Bulldogs 35-34. Senior guard Tahara Williams started her first game as an Aggie and scored a career-high six points. Junior forward Stacey Howard had a career-high nine rebounds off the bench for Utah State.
READY FOR MY CLOSE UP - This season, Utah State will be on television at least two times. The game against Utah on Nov. 13 was on the CW30. The Utah game was shown on tape delay at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Another game against an instate rival will also be on television for Aggie fans to enjoy. USU's match up with BYU on Dec. 19 will also be on the CW30.
ADMISSION - Admission to Utah State's women's basketball games is $5 for adults, $1 for youth. Fans can buy a women's sport pass for $75 which will gain admittance to women's basketball, volleyball and gymnastics. 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.
This season, Utah State introduces the Aggie Incentive Plan which allow fans to earn points for attending women's basketball games. Fans can earn 10 points for attending the game against Utah on Friday. Aggie fans can accumulate points throughout the season and earn prizes like USU water bottles, clothing and a USU women's team autographed basketball. Parents of Jr. Aggies will also receive free admittance to the game against Utah. Aggie women's basketball will also welcome schools on Dec. 14 for School Day against North Dakota State at 12 p.m. With the Aggie Incentives Plan fans can attend as many USU women's basketball games as possible and accumulate points, for a chance to win great prizes!!
Upcoming EventsPoint Breakdown for Each Game12/14/09 vs. North Dakota State 12:00 p.m. - 10 points12/19/09 vs. BYU 5:00 p.m. - 4 points12/21/09 vs. Weber State 2:00 p.m. - 10 points12/31/09 vs. Utah Valley 7:00 p.m. - 10 points
Non-Conference Weekday Games - 10 pointsNon-Conference Weekend Games - 4 pointsConference Weekday Games - 5 pointsConference Weekend Games - 2 pointsPrizes for Points Accumulated20 points - USU Water bottle40 points - USU T-Shirt60 points - USU Sweatshirt80 points - USU Women's Team Autographed Basketball
SEASON OPENER - The Aggies win against Utah on Nov. 13 was Utah State's first season-opening win since Nov. 17, 1981 with a 78-59 win against Southern Utah in Cedar City. It was the third season-opener that the Aggies have won since 1974. LAST TIME OUT - Despite being down as many as 14 points in the second half, the Utah State women's basketball couldn't climb all the way back, falling to Idaho State 56-53 at the ASU Classic at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz. With one second remaining in the game, an Ashleigh Vella layup broke a 53-53 tie. She added a free throw to give the Bengals the three-point win.
With the loss, Utah State evens out its record at 3-3, while Idaho State improves to 2-7 with the win. The two teams have now met 25 times with the Aggies holding on to a slight 13-12 series advantage.
Junior guard Alice Coddington had a career-high eight steals which is tied for sixth all-time in single-game steals. The last player to register eight grabs was Aggie-great Danyelle Snelgro who accomplished the feat against Hawai`i in 2008. Coddington came close to a double-double with 14 points and eight steals. Junior guard LaCale Pringle-Buchanan was stellar off the bench for USU, scoring a career-high 14 points and adding two steals. In two games at the ASU Classic, she had seven steals in just 35 minutes of action. Freshman guard TJ Goddard was the third Aggie in double figures in scoring adding 13 points.
TURNING 22 - The 2009-10 season marks the 22nd year of women's basketball at USU, and just the sixth since the program was restarted prior to the 2003-04 season. The women's hoops program at USU had been disbanded following the 1987 season due to budget cuts. USU is playing in its fifth season in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) after playing its first two seasons in the Big West Conference.
AGGIES ON THE RADIO/WEB - Utah State games can be heard on KLGN (1390 AM) in Logan with Evan Nyman calling the play-by-play. They can also be heard on the web by going to the Utah State Athletics home page at www.UtahStateAggies.com and cling on the Yahoo Sports link in the right hand column.
GAMETRACKER - Fans can follow Aggie home games through the USU web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com via GameTracker, a free service, which updates play-by-play and statistics throughout the game.
ON THE INTERNET - All of Utah State's home games are available to watch live through Utah State TV via the internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com. USU fans can also listen to every game both home and away, via USU's web site.
COACH PEBLEY - Head coach Raegan Pebley is entering her seventh season as head coach at Utah State, which is the longest tenure in the program's history. Five games into the 2007-08 season, Pebley overtook the lead for the most games coached in Utah State history (116). She has now coached 177 games for the blue and white and has 61 wins as Aggie head coach which is first ahead of Fern Gardner (55) on the all-time win list.
NEWCOMERS - This season, the Aggies welcome five newcomers this season, including LaCale Pringle-Buchanan a junior guard from College of Southern Idaho and fellow junior forward Ashlee Brown, a transfer from UC Santa Barbara. Due to transfer rules, Brown will have to sit out the 2009-10 season. Utah State also added three freshman guards from all around the country. Jenna Johnson is freshman guard from Wasilla, Alaska, while Pualei Furtado is a freshman guard from Kaneohe, Hawaii. Devyn Christensen is another freshman guard from Caldwell, Idaho.
SPANNING THE GLOBE - The 2009-10 Utah State team is an international group. There are Aggies from three different countries and all across the United States. Juniors Stacey Howard and Alice Coddington hail from Australia, while redshirt freshman Banna Diop hails from Senegal. The players from the states hail from one end to the other. Pualei Furtado is from Hawaii, while fellow freshman Jenna Johnson is from Alaska. But there is only one player from the Beehive State, senior center Lydia Whitehead hails from Nibley, Utah.
