Utah State women’s basketball loses 64-53 to Fresno State

Utah State University women's basketball team plays Fresno State on Feb. 6, 2019, in the Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah. Fresno State came away with the win 64-53. (Megan Nielsen)

LOGAN, Utah – Utah State women’s basketball (10-11, 5-5 Mountain West) lost, 64-53, to Fresno State (14-7, 7-3 MW) Wednesday night in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

Junior guard/forward Hailey Bassett led the Aggies with her third career double-double after logging a career-high 27 points as well as 10 rebounds.

Bassett scored the first eight points for the Aggies and after a couple free throws from junior guard Eliza West, Utah State held a 10-7 lead with 5:36 to play in the first quarter. Fresno State responded with an 8-0 run for the 15-10 advantage with 2:59 to go. A Bassett and-1 trimmed the lead to two, 15-13, with 2:43 remaining. The teams traded buckets as the Bulldogs held the 19-17 edge at the end of the period.

Layups from senior guard Rachel Brewster and Bassett put USU up 23-21 with 8:10 left to play in the second quarter. After a 5-0 Fresno State run, a jumper from junior guard/forward Shannon Dufficy and an E. West three put Utah State up, 28-26, with 6:46 on the clock. Fresno State, however, closed out the period with a 12-0 run to lead 38-28 at the half.

A couple of Bassett buckets trimmed Fresno State’s lead to nine, 41-32, with 8:35 remaining. The Bulldogs extended their lead to 14, 46-32, with 6:48 remaining and maintained the double-digit lead for the remainder of the stanza to close the quarter with the 50-37 lead.

After a Bulldog layup pushed the lead to 15, 52-37, with 9:32 to play in the final period, USU was able to cut the lead down to nine, 56-47, with 6:08 to play after a three and jumper from Brewster, a Bassett layup and a trey from junior guard Olivia West. The Aggies were able to pull within six, 58-52, with 2:15 left to play after a jumper and free throws from Bassett, but Fresno State made six consecutive free throws to take the 64-53 victory.

Fresno State had four players score in double figures as sophomore guard/forward Bree Delaney led the way with 15 points.

Utah State finished the night shooting 30.2 percent (19-of-63) from the field, 13.6 percent (3-of-22) from behind the arc and 66.7 percent (12-of-18) at the free throw line. Fresno State shot 38.8 percent (19-of-49) from the floor, 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from the 30-point line and 100.0 percent (19-of-19) at the free throw line.

Utah State next hosts San Diego State (8-12, 3-6 MW) on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 2 p.m., in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

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