WBB Review: Aggies Fall Just Short In Overtime Loss To Fresno State

LOGAN – Utah State rode another spectacular performance from its promising freshman class, capped off with some late-game heroics from CJ Latta, in its rematch against Fresno State. The clutch effort was good enough to force an extra five minutes of basketball but not quite enough to overcome the Bulldogs, and the Aggies ultimately fell short of completing their comeback bid, losing 81-73 after the extra period.

Fresno State escaped to earn a 16-9 (7-5) record, landing the Bulldogs in fourth place for the Mountain West standings, right between Colorado State and Wyoming (which are tied for second with records of 8-3) and San Diego State and New Mexico (which, with records of 6-6, are tied for fifth place). The Aggies fell to 2-21 (1-10).

The comeback effort stalled in overtime, but the end of regulation gave Utah State a chance to play in crunch time, which is something it hasn’t had many opportunities to do this season. The Aggies saw several players rise to the occasion. 

"We haven’t been in that situation a lot… (We) got it close, now we have to learn how to win,” said coach Wes Brooks. 

With just over three minutes left in the game, Saga Ukkonen picked up a foul on Mia Tarver and hit one of her two free throws to take a nine-point lead for the Bulldogs, seemingly putting the contest out of reach, if not close to it.

Cheyenne Stubbs had other plans. The senior guard hit a three with 3:17 remaining to cut the deficit back to six points, and Utah State unleashed a particularly fearsome full-court press. Jamisyn Heaton wrestled the ball away at mid-court to get the Aggies another try, which Taliyah Logwood cashed in with a three-pointer to halve Fresno State's suddenly tenuous advantage.

With 1:47 remaining, Heaton found her way to the line and hit her two free throws to make it a one-point game. Powell gave the Bulldogs a three-point lead with 1:03 on the clock, but Logwood drove, missed, grabbed the board, went again, and forced Kylee Fox to pick up her fifth foul before stepping up to the line to hit both tries, returning the difference to a single point with 49 seconds left. Fresno State inbounded the ball coming out of a timeout and Logwood swiped it away almost instantly, moving the ball to Stubbs, who hit the brakes and reset the offense. 

With 28 seconds left, Stubbs took a screen from Sophie Sene. Sene took both defenders with her and left a wide-open lane for Stubbs, who drove towards the hoop. Stubbs sensed a defender scrambling behind her and was running headlong into the help-side defense, a trap in the post just waiting to happen. At 5-5, facing a double team under the basket with the game on the line is less than ideal, so Stubbs pulled up for a floater to avoid the trap.

But, the help was late. Where Stubbs expected contact, there was an open lane. She tossed the ball high into the air, high enough to clear the absent help side defender, and it came down towards the back of the rim and clattered off. Stubbs did draw contact, but by the time she did, the ball was nearing its apex and she was boxed out of the lane with no chance of recovering her own shot. The Aggies sent Powell to the line and she made it a three-point game with 19 seconds left.

Looking to hold for the last shot, Latta inbounded to Logwood and the Aggies worked the ball to Stubbs. She dribbled around the three-point line and faked left, then went right as Logwood looped around behind her, somehow taking both defenders in the process. Again, Stubbs was too open for her own good, and her three-point attempt bounced off the back of the rim.

Sene went up and got the ball, and tried to go right back up with it, but her shot was off the mark too. Sene and Heaton went after the rebound, and though they couldn't recover it cleanly, they did enough to force Fresno State into a mistake, touching the ball last before it bounced out of play with 5.2 seconds left. Latta inbounded to Sene and took the handoff from her as she made her way to the top of the key. Stubbs curled, but couldn’t get open, so she met Latta and set a screen. Latta took the screen, then hesitated before she pulled up from beyond the arc, lulling a defender into her space. Her shooting motion took her right into the arm of Rayna Williams, who picked up her fourth foul and sent Latta to the line with a fraction of a second left and three free throws to tie the game.

With no margin for error, Latta stepped up, took a few deep breaths, and drilled all three tries.

“Going to the free throw line, I was telling myself, ‘Trust your training,’ ” Latta said. “So I just breathed through it, really.”

After posting 14, 12, and 14 in the first three quarters, the Aggies broke off 26 points in the fourth for the highest-scoring quarter by either team to force overtime. They were outscored 15-7 in the bonus period and fell short of completing a big comeback, but the Aggies had plenty going for them down the stretch.

Utah State did a good job of slowing down Fresno State star Mia Jacobs. There’s no shame in giving up a double-double to Jacobs, as this was her fifth in a row, and holding her to 13 points when she came into the game averaging 19 was a massive defensive victory. She was largely cut off from the basket and scored almost exclusively from beyond the arc with a lethal but limited 3-of-5 shooting performance from deep. She only got seven looks from within the three-point line and was off the mark on all of them. Utah State gave her only four free throws and she hit them all. Her 13-point line represents her lowest-scoring game since a 73-48 loss to UNLV on Jan. 22 when she notched the same number of points. It also represents a 50 percent decline from the 26 points she scored against the Aggies earlier in the year.

But with the attention on Jacobs, Danae Powell came off the bench and gave Fresno State another sneaky performance, hitting even harder this time than she did in the first meeting with Utah State. She dropped a game-high 22 points and accounted for a rebound, two assists and a steal. Mariah Elohim and Saga Ukkonen also took advantage and had above-average scoring nights. 

“I thought it was excellent,” Brooks said of his team’s defensive efforts to stop Jacobs, “but we let Powell get to the rim too much. If we cut Powell’s performance in half, we win. Those people who are not supposed to get us got us, and that’s another reason why we lost the game.”

Still, compared to the previous meeting, this one was a resounding success for the Aggies. Personnel accounted for a large part of the disparity between games, with the main difference being the presence of Logwood – who is apparently worth about 20 points on her own.

Stubbs came off the bench and scored six fewer points, but it was made up for as the Aggies could get more people involved, the obvious one being Logwood. But, Heaton, who had just one shot attempt and zero points last time against Fresno State, was much more active. She still only had four shot attempts, but made the most of them and ended up with six points, three boards, two assists and two steals. Sene played only five minutes in the first meeting, picking up two fouls and missing two free throws. This time, she had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and was the leading upperclassman for Brooks' group. The other upperclassman to contribute was Mia Tarver, who also improved on her last game against the Bulldogs, jumping from two to 11 points with six rebounds, an assist and two steals.

Logwood led the freshman with 13 points, three rebounds, a block and a steal. Latta, in addition to her overtime-forcing trip to the line, had nine points, five rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal. Elise Livingston also had nine points, plus four rebounds and three assists.

Ball movement was another huge difference. Last time, the Aggies only recorded four assists, while this time they had 13. It was a similar story on the glass. The Aggies were beaten 35-27 last time but had a slight edge this time, out-rebounding the Bulldogs 46-44. Utah State doubled its production from deep, too, knocking down 10 of 33 tries after hitting 5 of 22 in Fresno.

After a 20-point improvement, the Aggies would love one more shot at Fresno State. Unfortunately, Utah State won’t get another run at the Bulldogs unless the teams meet in Vegas, but the stark difference in performance puts the rest of the season in context. These young Aggies are improving, and they know it.

“This game gave us a lot of confidence,” Latta said.