LOGAN, Utah – Utah State women's basketball erased another double-digit deficit, rallying from 11 down to take the lead on multiple occasions before ultimately falling to Colorado State, 83-74, in the team's Mountain West opener on Sunday afternoon at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Opening conference play at home for the first time since 2021, the Aggies ignited from the perimeter with 12 made 3-pointers in the game, tying for the ninth-most in a single game in program history. Sophomore forward
Gracie Johnson began the 3-point barrage with the game's opening bucket as the Aggies fought the Rams to a standstill in the early going. Colorado State, picked to finish second in the MW preseason poll, slowly built an eight-point lead in the opening quarter before freshman guard
Carlie Latta scored twice in the final 42 seconds to bring USU within four points heading to the second.
The Aggies continued to rally in the second, extending the unanswered points streak to seven following a jumper and made free throw from senior guard
Cheyenne Stubbs. CSU then threatened to take control of the game with a 13-4 stretch to go up 41-30. A Stubbs 3-pointer began a 10-2 answer from the Aggies as Latta scored seven points in the final minute of the first half to cut the lead to 43-40 entering halftime.
Following a Ram bucket to open the second half, Johnson hit back-to-back threes to give the Aggies their first lead since early in the first quarter, 46-45. The two sides leapfrogged each other over the next few minutes as Utah State twice reclaimed the lead following layups from Stubbs.
After USU grabbed a 56-55 lead with less than six minutes remaining in the third quarter, however, Colorado State responded with a 12-0 run to again lead by double digits. The Aggies immediately answered with a 5-0 burst to claw back within six but were unable to cut the deficit further during the final frame.
Stubbs led Utah State with 27 points while shooting 11-of-21 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range. Stubbs also added a team-high six rebounds and tied for the team lead in assists alongside freshman guard
Elise Livingston with three apiece. Latta finished with a career-high 19 points, going 8-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-5 from deep while adding four rebounds and two assists. Johnson narrowly missed double figures with a season-high nine points, converting all three of her attempts from behind the arc, and adding four rebounds and a team-high three blocks.
USU finished with 12 3-pointers on 31 attempts (38.7 percent), tying for the ninth-most 3-pointers in a game in program history and only two short of the program record of 14. The Aggies also hit 12 3-pointers earlier this season against both Colorado and Stetson, and did so three times prior to this season. Utah State also shot 27-of-62 (43.5 percent) overall from the field in the game.
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