LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Utah State women's basketball (3-9, 0-1 MW) fell in its Mountain West season opener Saturday afternoon at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, suffering a 107-68 loss to UNLV.
A career-best scoring performance by junior guard
Cheyenne Stubbs was not enough for Utah State, as the Aggies were unable to keep up with the defending back-to-back Mountain West champions in their conference lidlifter. Stubbs went for 30-points, the first Aggie to do so since Adryana Quezada on January 19, 2022.
After a back-and-forth start to the contest, the Lady Rebels closed out the first quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 28-12 advantage through 10 minutes. Junior forward
Macy Smith, coming off a season-high 12-point outing versus Western Colorado, sparked the USU offense early with five first-quarter points.
Junior guard
Cheyenne Stubbs found her rhythm in the second quarter, going for nine points in the frame to reach her 10th double-figure scoring outing of the season before halftime. The Aggies shot efficiently in the second quarter, making 60 percent (6-of-10) of their shots to score 21 points, but were plagued by turnovers as 13 first-half USU turnovers turned into 28 UNLV points.
Utah State played its best basketball of the afternoon in the third quarter as the Aggies nearly held the Lady Rebels even, scoring 22 points to UNLV's 24.
Along with her 30-point performance, Stubbs also led the Aggies in both rebounds and assists with six, four and two, respectively. This was the 10th time in 12 contests Stubbs led the team's scoring efforts. Smith was the only other USU player in double figures, finishing with 10 points to go along with three boards.
Utah State finished the contest shooting 39.6 percent (19-of-48) from the floor, 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from 3-point range and 80.8 percent (21-of-26) at the charity stripe. UNLV shot 51.5 percent (35-of-68) from the field, including 28.0 percent (7-of-25) from deep and 85.7 percent (30-of-35) from the free throw line.
The Lady Rebels (11-1, 1-0 MW) were paced by Desi-Rae Young, who finished the afternoon with team-highs of 31 points and nine rebounds.
Up Next
Utah State (3-9, 0-1 MW) now returns to Logan for its Mountain West home opener as the Aggies take on Wyoming on Wednesday, Jan. 3, at 6 p.m., at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The game will be streamed on Mountain West Network, with links to the 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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