LOGAN, Utah – Utah State's women's basketball team opened up the 2021-22 season with a hard-fought 83-78 victory over Westminster on Tuesday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

"I would have preferred it'd been a little bit easier," head coach Kayla Ard said. "I would have preferred our defense been better in the first half, but I thought we did what we had to do when the game was on the line. I am proud of them for that. It is an ugly win, but it is a win. We are 1-0 so I will take it. We've got a lot to work on, but a wins a win so we're gonna walk out of here, learn from it, and just be happy we got to pull it out tonight."

Utah State was led by junior guard/forward Adryana Quezada and senior guard Kaylin Randhawa, who scored 16 points apiece in their respective Aggie debuts. Quezada had a double-double on the night as she also grabbed a game-best 13 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.

A total of five players scored in double figures for USU as senior guard/forward E'Lease Stafford scored 14 points off the bench, sophomore guard Olivia Wikstrom added 12 and grad senior Laci Hawthorne chipped in 11.

"I think we have different players that can step up every night," coach Ard said. "Our scoring is very spread out and I love that. It will be very hard to scout us offensively, and I think that's gonna be really good for us."

Westminster's Ashley Greenwood led all scorers in the game as the senior guard poured in 28 points, knocking down 13 of her 16 shots, including 2-of-5 from beyond the arc.

"We're gonna face people like that all year long," coach Ard said of Greenwood. "Every team's got one, some team's got two. You've got to figure out a way to stop them if you want to win the game. I thought it was a good test for us. It told me a lot about who we can put on somebody like that. Those are good things to know early on so, again, would've preferred it been a little easier but grateful that we've learned some things from it."

The Griffins led by two at intermission and opened the third on an 8-4 run to open a 49-43 lead with exactly 7:00 remaining in the third, forcing the Aggies to call timeout.

Westminster was up 52-46 before Utah State started its comeback, using an 8-2 spurt to pull even at 54-apiece. A layup by Lindzi Rich with 3:28 to go in the third gave the Griffins their final lead of the night.

Quezada tied it at 56-apiece 13 seconds later and Randhawa put the Aggies in front to stay when she made the first of her two free throw attempts. Utah State took a 61-58 lead into the fourth.

"Ithink something that really showed for me tonight was our fight," coach Ard said. "We didn't throw in the towel. We didn't quit. Things weren't going our way for a while... They were gonna do whatever they needed to do to win the game and walk out of here in front of Aggie Nation with a win and so I like seeing that. I like knowing that we've got some toughness, we've got some heart, we have some grit in the moments that matter."

The Aggies led by as many as eight in the fourth, but the Griffins would not go away. Down 79-72 with 1:28 to go, Westminster pulled to within 79-78 following back-to-back 3-pointers by Sarah McGinley, who scored 18 points on the night.

Randhawa closed the door on Westminster, though, as she went a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line over the final 26 seconds.

"I feel like that was pretty important," Quezada said on playing a close game to open the season. "It kind of helped us figure out who we are as a team like we're going to tough it out."

Utah State shot 40.0 percent from the field on the night (28-of-70), but shot a stellar 47.4 percent from beyond the arc (9-of-19). The Aggies made just 64.3 percent of their free throws (18-of-28), but outrebounded the Griffins 43-41.

Westminster shot 47.8 percent from the floor (32-of-67), including 26.1 percent from 3-point land (6-of-23), and 61.5 percent from the charity stripe (8-of-13). The Griffins dominated the paint, outscoring the Aggies 46-32 down low, but Utah State enjoyed a 32-11 advantage in bench points.

Sophomore guard Meagan Mendazona gave the Aggies a nice spark off the bench as she had six points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and zero turnovers in nearly 26 minutes of work.

UP NEXT

Utah State is back in the Spectrum on Saturday, Nov. 13, when the Aggies host Cal State Fullerton at 2 p.m.

For more information on the Utah State women's basketball program, follow the Aggies on Twitter at @USUWBasketball, on Instagram at USUWBasketball and on Facebook at USUWBB. Aggie fans can also follow Utah State Athletics on Twitter at @USUAthletics, on Instagram at USUAthletics and on Facebook at USUAthletics. 

-USU-