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.