February 18, 2007 (USU Media Relations) -
HONOLULU, Hawaii - Utah State¹s women¹s basketball was out-rebounded,
42-26, in the Aggies¹ 79-63 loss to Hawai¹i Sunday afternoon at UH¹s Stan
Sheriff Center in a Western Athletic Conference game. The game had been
postponed from Saturday night due to travel issues for Utah State in getting
to Hawaii.
The loss snaps USU¹s three-game win streak, its longest since the
2004-05 season, and the Aggies are now 10-14 overall and 6-6 in WAC play.
Utah State was tied for third in the conference standings after Thursday¹s
win over Nevada, but slipped to sixth with Sunday¹s loss.
Hawai¹i won its sixth in a row in improving to 13-12 overall and 7-6 in
WAC play, moving up to fifth in the league standings.
The win gives Hawai¹i the season sweep over USU, as the Rainbow Wahine
beat the Aggies, 62-57, at Logan on Jan. 27, and is the fourth win in a row
in the series, as Hawai¹i now leads, 4-3.
Both teams were without their head coaches Sunday, as USU head coach
Raegan Pebley did not make the trip after having a baby on Jan. 30.
Assistant coach George Brosky was the acting head coach for the fifth time
this season, as USU is now 2-3 under Brosky.
Hawai¹i head coach Jim Bolla has been on medical leave since Feb. 3, and
associate coach Pat Charity is the interim head coach.
Junior guard Taylor Richards led Utah State with 19 points, including 12
in the second half. Richards, the shortest player on the Aggies¹ roster at
5-4, led the team with seven rebounds.
Senior forward Brittany Phillips netted 17 points in the first half, but
was limited to just one point in the second half to finish with 18. It was
the sixth-straight game and 10th in last 11 that Phillips has posted
double-figures.
USU was out-rebounded 42-26, including 19 offensive rebounds by Hawai¹i,
which led to a 25-4 UH advantage in second chance points. The 16-rebound
difference is the second-largest this season for the Aggies, as they were
out-rebounded by 22 on two different occasions, Jan. 15 at La Tech and Jan.
24 at Boise State. USU is now 4-11 when being out-rebounded by the
opposition.
The Aggies shot a season-high for field goal percentage in a half,
hitting 54.5 percent (12-22) of their shots from the field, including 5-10
(50 percent) from three-point range, as USU was only down 35-32 at the half.
Hawai¹i opened the second half with a 7-0 spurt and USU never got close
from there on out.
In the second half, USU shot just 30.8 percent (8-26) from the field,
finishing the game 20-48 (41.7 percent), going 6-19 (31.6 percent) from
behind the arc. The Aggies were 17-21 (81.0 percent) at the free throw
line.
Hawai¹i was 27-59 (45.8 percent) field goal shooting, draining 4-13
(30.8) percent from three-point range and were 21-31 (67.7 percent) at the
charity stripe.
USU returns home to host New Mexico State on Thursday, Feb. 22 and
Louisiana Tech on Saturday, Feb. 24, which is the Aggies¹ final home game of
the season and USU will be honoring its three seniors, guard Camille Brox,
and forwards Brittany Hagen and Brittany Phillips. Both games tip-off at 7
p.m. at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Ticket prices for USU regular-season games are $5 for adults, $1 for
youth. Contact the USU Athletics Ticket Office at (435)797-0305 or at
1-888-U-STATE-1 (1-888-878-2831) for more information.
Utah State women¹s basketball games can be heard on KLGN (1390 AM) in
Logan with Evan Nyman calling the play-by-play and Clair Anderson providing
color commentary for home games. They can also be heard on the web by going
to the women¹s basketball home page at www.UtahStateAggies.com [1] and clicking
on the LISTEN link.
Fans can follow Aggie home games through the USU website at
www.UtahStateAggies.com [2] via GameTracker, a free service, which updates
play-by-play and statistics throughout the game.
Live streaming of USU basketball games are also available through
WAC.tv.