LOGAN, Utah – In the team's final tune-up before the beginning of the regular season, Utah State women's basketball defeated Westminster, 94-70, in an exhibition on Friday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
"I'm really proud of the girls tonight," head coach Wesley Brooks said. "The preseason's now over. We'll continue to get better and continue to fight. We've had two really good scrimmages this week to help us get ready for the season, so we're happy. Both games we played, we got to 90 points. We got our number of threes up today. The other day, we were 19-of-40 from 3; today, we were 8-of-44. But as I told the girls just now, we played defense and we forced 34 turnovers. If we're going to do that, it doesn't matter. So we'll continue to get better."
After a high-scoring opening quarter in which neither team took control of the contest, an Aggie avalanche ensued in the second quarter. Utah State held Westminster scoreless for over eight-and-a-half minutes and used the defensive momentum to go on a 15-0 run en route to taking a 39-30 lead into halftime. The Aggies shot 47.1 percent from the field in the second quarter while holding the Griffins to 12.5 percent on 1-of-8 shooting. Utah State forced 15 total turnovers in the first half, while freshman guard
Elise Livingston led USU in the opening half with nine points of 4-of-5 shooting, including 1-of-2 from behind the arc.
In the second half, Utah State maintained its defensive intensity, forcing another 19 turnovers from the Griffins. The Aggies scored 40 points off 34 turnovers for the full game, also winning the battle over fastbreak points, 22-5. With the defense routinely forcing turnovers, USU built runs of 9-2, 11-2 and 8-2 over the final 20 minutes to steadily increase their lead. Utah State ended the game with another defensive takeover, holding Westminster without a field goal over the final 6:57 on the way to the 94-70 win.
Five Aggies reached double digits in scoring as senior guard
Cheyenne Stubbs led the way with 21 points while shooting 8-of-13 from the field. Junior guard
Mia Tarver and freshman guard
Denae Skelton each finished with 14 points, while Livingston followed close behind with 13 points. Junior guard
Jamisyn Heaton was the final Aggie in double figures, finishing with 12 points. Heaton also led USU with seven rebounds while Tarver finished second on the team with five. Utah State also recorded 21 assists, which would be the highest assist total in a game for the Aggies since recording 24 against Fresno State in March of 2022.
Defensively, sophomore forward
Gracie Johnson again patrolled the paint, recording a team-high five blocks and two steals on the night. The Aggies recorded 18 steals as a team, which would be tied for the highest by USU since recording 21 steals against Utah Valley in 2014. Each of Stubbs, Skelton and Heaton finished with three steals to lead USU.
Utah State shot 36-of-83 (.434) from the field and 8-of-44 (.182) from 3-point range, but held the Griffins to only 23-of-69 (.333) shooting and 9-of-27 (.333) from deep. USU's 44 3-point attempts would also shatter the previous program record of 34 against both Arkansas State and Southeastern Louisiana in 2021.
The Aggies will officially open the season at home on Monday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. against Kansas City at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Season Tickets
Season tickets for the 2024-25 schedule are available now. Fans can make a deposit to save their seat
here or by calling the USU Ticket Office at (435) 797-0305.
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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