RIVERSIDE, California — Utah State women's basketball saw a two-game winning streak come to a close Wednesday evening at SRC Arena, suffering a 52-51 loss to UC Riverside.
Highlighting the USU performance was a trio of double-figure scoring performances by junior guards
Cheyenne Stubbs and
Skye Miller and junior forward
Bridget Mullings, who finished with 15, 10 and 10 points, respectively.
The Aggie defense came up big in the first half, limiting UC Riverside to just nine points in each of the first two quarters. While holding the Highlanders to just 22.2 percent (6-of-27) shooting from the floor, USU took the lead early and remained on top through the remainder of the half. Stubbs, who has led the Aggies in scoring in each of the past three contests, was responsible for 10 of the team's 26 first-half points as the Aggies went into the locker room with a 26-18 advantage.
After holding the Highlanders to just 18 first-half points, the hosts found some offensive rhythm in the third quarter as they shot 10-for-16 from the field (.625) to score 21 points in the frame to close an eight-point gap to just two. The final quarter started with a 41-39 Aggie advantage, but an 11-0 run by UC Riverside bridged the third and fourth quarters as the Highlanders took their first lead in over 25 minutes of action.
The teams exchanged leads throughout the final quarter, with the Aggies going on top 51-50 with 24.9 seconds remaining after
Allyzee Verdan found
Skye Miller in the paint for a layup, followed by a stop and a made free throw by
Samiana Suguturaga. UC Riverside used a layup to move back on top with just 5.9 seconds on the clock. After a foul and a pair of missed free throws, Utah State earned possession with 3.4 seconds remaining and an inbound from under their own basket, but were unable to get a shot off as the final buzzer sounded.
While committing a season-low 16 turnovers, 30 of USU's 52 points came in the paint. Sophomore forward
Tiairra Hill-Brown led the team on the glass with six boards, but was limited to just 18 minutes of action due to foul trouble.
Up Next
Utah State (2-3, 0-0 MW) now returns home to take on Warner Pacific on Saturday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m. (CT), inside of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The game will be streamed on Mountain West Network, with links to live stream and stats available on utahstateaggies.com.
Fans can follow USU women's basketball on Twitter, @USUWBasketball, on Instagram, @USUWBasketball, as well as on Facebook, at /USUWBB. Aggie fans can also follow Utah State Athletics on Twitter, @USUAthletics, on Instagram, @USUAthletics and on Facebook at /USUAthletics.
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