WBB Review: Fourth Quarter Woes Cost Aggies Again

LOGAN – For the second time in as many games, Utah State let a fourth-quarter lead slip away, squandering a five-point edge in the final frame and falling to Cal State Northridge, 69-65, to drop to 0-2 on the season.

Before the game even started, the Aggies had a miscommunication to address. Though Cheyenne Stubbs was announced as a starter, freshman Taliyah Logwood was officially listed on the scorer's sheet. Just prior to tipoff, Stubbs, who had already taken her place on the court, was rushed to the bench while the unexpecting Logwood was thrust into the starting lineup. Head coach Wes Brooks was forced to call a timeout just nine seconds into the game to remedy the problem and install his preferred starting lineup.

Despite that less-than-ideal start, the Aggies rushed to an early 11-3 lead and effectively nullified the clerical error – which Brooks declined to elaborate on after the game, saying it would be handled in-house. Fueled by a seven-point quarter from Mia Tarver, Utah State took a 16-12 lead after the first frame.

The Aggies gave up ground in the second quarter, hitting only 2 of 14 attempts from three-point range and eventually allowing Cal State Northridge to take a slim lead into the halftime break, 27-26. That slide carried into the third quarter and Utah State trailed by as many as eight points, but the Aggies quickly fought back, rattling off an 11-2 run capped with a Jamisyn Heaton three-pointer to reclaim the lead as the clock ticked under three minutes.

The two sides went into the final frame knotted up at 45, a tie that the Matadors broke on their first possession, hitting a free throw and later adding a layup to pull out in front by three points. Utah State answered with another scoring run, this time notching a 9-1 advantage over the next two minutes to stake out a 54-49 lead, but that stretch was met with a similar story to the one Utah State experienced in its season-opening loss against Kansas City – the young Aggies couldn’t hold onto a slim lead down the stretch.

Utah State kept fighting even as its advantage slipped away, twice finding Stubbs from distance to claw within one point of CSUN, but the Aggies couldn’t get enough traction late in the game. After taking that five-point lead, the Aggies gave up 19 points in under seven minutes and scored only 10.

“We didn’t make enough threes and we put them at the line 30 times,” Brooks said. “We did a pretty good job of guarding them, holding them to 21 percent from three and 36 percent from the field, but guess where you can't guard them: At the free throw line. We need to do a better job defending without fouling, and we’ll coach that better… We lost the game by four and we put them at the line 30 times.”

The Matadors were 22 of 30 from the line on the day. Brooks also pointed out his own team’s performance at the stripe, as the Aggies went 12 of 19, an improvement from their last game, but still short of Brooks' expectations. To make matters worse, the team shot 47 three-pointers and made only 11 – the former being roughly on par with what the Aggies want, but the latter again falling short of their goals.

“I’m happy with the amount of threes we’re getting, now I want to make a little bit more," Brooks said. "We were 11 for 47, but if (we) hit 15 or 16, the game is totally different.

“We are a live by the three, die by the three team. I know some people might not like it, but it’s what it is, it’s what we’re going to do. We’re trying to create a style of play, we’re trying to be unique, (and) we’re trying to be different."

Regarding the loss and the 0-2 start, Brooks also pointed out the youth of his team.

“We’re playing (six) freshmen," Brooks said. "They were just in high school last year. The thing about that is, this is their second college game. We’ll get better, but there will be some growing pains. Rome wasn’t built in a day. I’m not making excuses. I’m frustrated. We’re right there, we’re playing with the effort, but the execution just has to get better. We’re all new, we’re all trying to learn.”

Those freshmen (Ava Smith, Denae Skelton, Carlie Latta, Karlie Banks, Elise Livingston and Taliyah Logwood) played a combined 80 minutes and scored 22 points. Logwood, who was making her college debut, played particularly well. She was unfazed by the pregame confusion and the quick substitution and shot 3 of 6 from the field, hit her only three-point attempt, and was a perfect 3 of 3 from the line. She ended the night with 10 points and five rebounds.

Skelton and Livingston also started, though theirs were planned. Skelton had six points on 2-of-3 shooting from behind the arc and didn’t take a shot outside of that. Livingston had four points, three rebounds and two assists. Latta came in off the bench to add two points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal. 

Among the veteran contingent, Gracie Johnson had three points, five rebounds, two assists and three blocks while Tarver added nine points, four rebounds, an assist and seven steals. Stubbs struggled early on and was 1 of 13 from the field with five points after the third quarter. She put together a nice fourth quarter, though, and ended the game with 16 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Jamisyn Heaton was a great option off the bench and had 14 points, seven rebounds and an assist.

“We have our game plan going into games and I feel like if we could execute that a little bit better, we could be that team that coach Wes is (talking about),” Heaton said. “We’re still fighting and we’re still working. We know we can be a better team than what we've been… We just have to take these (losses) as motivation and build from there.”