WBB Review: Aggies Can't Keep Pace With SDSU Perimeter Barrage

LOGAN – Utah State has been making progress this season, but doesn’t have many wins to show for it. In fact, the Aggies have done just everything but win through 18 games. Earlier in the season, in back-to-back losses, the Aggies notched consecutive games with single-digit turnovers for the first time in program history. Against San Diego State, the Aggies dished out 17 assists, their most in a game since 2022. The effort, like those before it, still resulted in another loss.

"We really emphasize sharing the ball… We want to share the ball, we pass and cut, we move, we run our sets, (and) we look for each other,” head coach Wes Brooks said of the assist milestone.

While he was proud of the team’s ability to share the ball, he wasn’t pleased with the result.

“It’s disappointing,” Brooks said as Utah State fell to San Diego State, 85-66. “I really thought we matched up well with them… and we didn’t get what we needed to get done today.”

Sophie Sene, who had a great night on the court, was also disappointed, honing in on the defensive efforts that left much to be desired.

“As a team, we played hard, but we still need to keep working on defense," Sene said. "We are close, but we have to keep working to get better.”

Utah State is close – the progress is hidden in those little victories it has been stacking this season. But, at 1-17 and still searching for its first conference win six games through the league slate, it’s clear that the second part of Sene’s comment is, at this point, more important than the first. The Aggies have plenty of work still to do.

Utah State scored first in the contest as Elise Livingston hit a layup, but quickly fell into an 8-2 deficit. Cheyenne Stubbs hit a three-pointer on an assist from CJ Latta, then she dished one to Jamisyn Heaton to knot the game at eight, and a turnover set Sene up for a go-ahead layup. Livingston added another layup to push the Aggie lead to four, then a clerical error from San Diego State led to a technical foul that Latta converted into another point to cap off an 11-0 Aggie run, putting them ahead 13-8 with 2:28 left in the first quarter. The Aztecs inched closer as the quarter came to an end, but Utah State still enjoyed a two-point lead going into the break. The Aggies forced five turnovers, outrebounded San Diego State 13-11, and dished out six assists during the frame.

Utah State did its best to prevent an Aztec run in the second frame, but slipped up and allowed eight straight points by Naomi Panganiban to give San Diego State the boost it needed to retain the lead for good. Outside of that run, the Aggies matched San Diego State’s pace, and even would have outscored the Aztecs, but ultimately gave up 24 points to 19 of their own to take a one-possession game into the half, trailing 38-35.

After starting to slip in the second quarter, though, things only got worse for the Aggies out of the break. They dropped into a 10-point deficit by the end of the quarter after spending much of it within two possessions of the Aztecs – still a manageable difference to overcome if the Aggies were to make a push. They did not. In the fourth frame, the Aggies were flat. They went 0 for 8 from deep and scored just 13 points while the Aztecs added 22 to their lead, eventually sealing up the 19-point win. Brooks, with his high expectations of the Utah State defense, wasn’t pleased with the 85-point performance from San Diego State.

“We have to be better defensively," Brooks said. "It’s not good enough. Defensively, we’re not good enough… Obviously, we have to fix that. Until we start playing better defense we won't be able to win games."

The Aggies slowed down Adryana Quezada, San Diego State's leading scorer, and held her to just six points. She came into the game averaging 11.7 points with a 54.5 shooting percentage and went just 3 of 10 on the night. That, of course, would have been more helpful if not for the 12 three-pointers San Diego State rained down on Utah State, including six from Nat Martinez.

“(We) want to be the team shooting threes, (but) everybody is shooting threes against us," Brooks said. "We’re doing a great job of keeping people out of the paint, (but) we have lost because of people beating us from three.

“It’s embarrassing when people are shooting this well from three (against us)."

Beyond just her shooting, Martinez had the best game of her career, grabbing career highs in points, rebounds, assists and threes against the Aggies with 22 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, a steal, and a block, while going 7 of 8 from the field and 6 of 7 from deep.

On Utah State’s side, Stubbs delivered another high-scoring performance and had 17 points with two rebounds, four assists and a steal. Utah State also attacked the interior, where Brooks thought the team had a size advantage. This led to big nights from both Sene, who tied her season high, and Heaton. Sene came off the bench and had 10 points, seven rebounds and a block, while Heaton had nine points, eight rebounds and an assist.

Ava Smith had the best game of her career, knocking down three triples to earn nine points, a rebound and an assist. Denae Skelton had 10 points, two rebounds, and an assist. Latta has been a major roll recently, but it was a tough game for the freshman against SDSU, shooting 1 of 9 and recording five points with three rebounds and five assists.

“I think everyone knows that we’re getting better," Sense said. "We just need to keep pushing through and keep working hard.”

Another opportunity to keep pushing will present itself on Tuesday as the Aggies host a 12-7 New Mexico team.