Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
RENO, Nev. - Friday the 13th proved to be unlucky for the fifth-seeded Utah State women's basketball team as the Aggies run at the Western Athletic Conference Tournament came to an end with a, 57-54, loss to top-seeded Fresno State at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev.
With the loss, USU ends the season with a 16-15 record. Fresno State improves to 23-8 and advances to its second-straight WAC Tournament championship game. Last season, the Bulldogs defeated Boise State to earn their first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The Aggies conclude one of its most successful seasons since the reinstatement of the program before the 2003-04 season. This is the time since the 1978-79 season that USU ended the season above .500. That season the Aggies were 14-10 and 5-8 in the Intermountain Athletic Conference.
USU was lead by senior guard Danyelle Snelgro who scored a team-high 11 points in her final game as an Aggie. Sophomore Amber White scored a career-high 10 points, while junior forward Lydia Whitehead also added 10. Sophomore guard Alice Coddington was solid on the boards with 10 rebounds. Coddington also added three steals.
Jalessa Ross scored a game-high 21 points for Fresno State, while LaShay Fears added 18. Utah native Joh-Teena Filipe added 11 rebounds.
With 51 seconds remaining in the second half, Lydia Whitehead would tie the score for the third time with a two free throws. Hayley Munro would fight right back drilling a three-pointer with 27 seconds left to give the Bulldogs the 57-54 lead. USU would not get another shot off and Fresno State would hang on for the win.
Much like the game in Logan on March 7, USU started cold and Fresno State started hot. USU missed its first five shots, while Fresno State scored the first seven points. The Aggies fought back with a 9-0 run of their own to tie the score 17-17. The Bulldogs countered with a 10-0 run and pulled out to a 27-17 lead with under four minutes remaining. USU went cold not making a basket for almost seven minutes. The Aggies would cut the lead down to five points before Fresno State scored the last seven points of the half to go into the locker room with a 36-24 lead.
In the first half, USU was led by senior guard Danyelle Snelgro who scored five points. Three players scored four points, Amber White, Ana Pares and Shawnta Pope. Alice Coddington led USU with six first-half rebounds.
Fresno State made six three-pointers in the first half, including three from sophomore Jalessa Ross who had 13 points in the first half.
Utah State started hot in the second half scoring the first four points. A 10-0 run gave the Aggies a 46-43 lead before a Bailey Amundsen three tied the scored at 46-46. During the run, USU was led by four points from Whitehead. USU would take as big a lead as 52-46 with 5:15 left in the second half. But the Bulldogs had one final push left. A three-pointer from Jalessa Ross gave Fresno State the 54-52 lead with 2:51 left, and the Bulldogs would hold on for the win.
"This team is really blue collar; we never give up," Head coach Raegan Pebley said. "We work really hard. We don't care who scores the ball. We just care that someone scores the ball, and we believe in ourselves. Unfortunately, it didn't result in a victory for us, but a loss in no way takes away this team's success."
USU will be saying goodbye to four seniors Ana Pares, Danyelle Snelgro, Ndoubme Diop and Shawnta Pope. Snelgro ends her stellar Aggie career as the all-time steal leader at Utah State with 216 grabs. She also ends her career 1,043 points scored which places her fifth all-time.
