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Show Friday, Jan. 15, 2010 Page 8 FridayS ports Oil I I I . - 4 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com MEN'S BASKETBALL Women bitten by Wolf Pack; Men bit on the road.' That doesn't guarantee you're going to get a win or anything else, but we came out USU's women's basketball team and played well." came into the Dee Glen Smith The Aggies led much of the Spectrum with a perfect 2-0 conferfirst half, but the Wolf Pack carence record Wednesday night, with ried the momentum of a 5-0 high hopes of extending its six-game run at the end of halftime into winning streak to seven. the second half and built their University of Nevada's Wolf lead as wide as 10 points when Pack, also sporting a 2-0 conference senior guard Armon Johnson hit record, came to Logan to play the a jumper with 9:03 left in the Ags with a chance for one of the game. On the following possesteams to gain an advantage over the sion, Aggie junior forward Pooh other early in the Western Athletic Williams hit a 3-pointer that Alto• HUi Conference schedule. Nevada entered sparked a 14-3 run, capped by # Ar. the Spectrum coming off back-toQuayle's third 3-point shot of the back wins against San Jose State night to give the Aggies a 66-65 and Boise State, after a disappoint lead. stretch prior to the start of WAC "We hung in there when we were play where the Wolf Pack suffered down 10," Morrill said. "The losses in six of their previous seven thing that I am most proud of games. Utah State also entered the our team is that we hung in there game after defeating San Jose State when we were down 10 and found and a WAC opening road victory a way. That's what you've got to over preseason media poll favorite do on the road, is just find a way Louisiana Tech. With both teams and claw one out, and we didn't starting their conference season get discouraged when we should 4_1 undefeated and on winning streaks, have probably won in regulathis game had the potential to be a tion." thriller. Neither team disappointed, Aggie junior forward Tyler BOTH THE WOMEN'S AND MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAMS squared off against the Nevada Wolf rack on but the Aggies played catchup from Newbold missed a 3-point attempt Wednesday evening. The women suffered a defeat at home, while the men broke through for their first WAC road win of midway through the first half until as time expired in regulation, but season. Photos by Scott Page and Casey Durkin/Nevada Sagebrush the end of the game. Utah State gave was able to hit a clutch 3-point "Johnna (Ward) gave them a really good first half, the extremely athletic Nevada team a shot, his fifth and final point of the EWUSKINSM good fight throughout the contest, but fell short in which gave them a jump-start." night, from the same spot to start the toff writer Turnovers were abundant in the game, as well. the end, 69-58. Utah State center Lydia Whitehead overtime period. The Aggies won the turnover battle 17-20; howand Nevada guard Johnna Ward were their team's "Then we made some unbelievable Senior guard Jared Quayle was back ever, Pebley did not think turnovers had much to leading scorers putting in 13 and 18, respectively. shots, some big shots," Morrill said. n form, as he scored 21 points to lead do with the final outcome of the game. The Aggies had a tough time keeping Ward "Things went right for us. We had a lot he Utah State Aggies Wednesday night. "The turnovers weren't ideal, but it wasn't the quiet, as she scored all of her 18 points in the first of guys play well." hey accomplished something they deal breaker. It was really just our fouling and half alone, where she went 6-11 from the field In the extra period, the Aggies went aven't been able to do much this seathem hitting threes," Pebley said. along with 4-6 from behind the arc, but was held to man coverage and held the Wolf Pack on: win on the road. The Aggies (12-6, Fouling was what ultimately kept Nevada in scoreless for the entire second half. without a field goal. After Nevada hit -2) gave the University of Nevada Wolf the lead for the majority of the game. The Aggies "We knew from jump that she was a shooter," three free throws, Quayle nailed his ack (10-7, 2-2) their first home loss of put the Wolf Pack into the bonus with 12 minutes Aggie guard Amber White said. We knew she fourth 3-point shot of the night. to go in the first half, and Nevada converted 20-24 he season in overtime by a score of 79was deep, so we had to give her a lot of proximity. "We just stayed together as a team," 2 free throws throughout the course of the game. Next time we have to stay focused and know that Quayle said. "We just never gave up. The Aggies haven't won a game when "Putting them in the bonus with 12 minutes in she's a scorer and not let her get as many open We knew we would get down, and they railing at halftime this year and typithe first half on our own court is not good," Pebley shots." would make big plays. We just had to ally lose when their opponent scores said. Although Utah State's tallest player is 6-footkeep our composure, and we pulled it ore than 60 points, but the Ags broke White played a solid game, finishing with 12 6-inches and Nevada's is 6-foot-l-inches, the Wolf off." hrough for a victory after trailing 35-33 points and five rebounds. White and teammate Pack kept with the Aggies with points in the paint Both senior guard Brandon Fields t halftime and allowing the Wolf Pack LaCale Pringle-Buchanan continued their recent 28-30 and out rebounded them 39-32. and sophomore forward Luke Babbitt o score 72 points. The Ags hit crucial trend of shooting the ball well. Pringle-Buchanan's "With the two athletic post players (Nevada) had good looks at the rim on 3-point hots in key moments, out rebounded 11 points extended her streak of scoring in douhas, I don't think height was much of a factor," attempts for the Wolf Pack, but couldn't heir opponent, 43-36, and held the ble-digits to five consecutive games. White said. "We talked about their athleticism get the shots to fall. Junior forward Nate igh-powered Wolf Pack offense without Utah State's loss snapped a six-game winning and their ability to rebound, so that was what we Bendall hit two free-throws with 55 field goal in overtime. needed to stay focused on, and we didn't do a very streak, which is the longest streak the Lady Ags seconds left in the game to put the Ags "I've been telling them that we're have put together since the 1975-'76 season. good job." up by five, and then Williams put the oing to eventually play good on the The Aggies hit the road to take on Fresno State The Aggies came into the game as the 18thgame away on a break-away dunk with oad," Aggie head coach Stew Morrill Jan. 16, and then straight to Hawaii Jan. 18 to try ranked team in 3-point percentage and finished 32 seconds left that put the Aggies up by aid during a post-game radio interview. to bounce back from their first conference loss. the game shooting just a 26.3 percent from deep, seven. `They needed to believe that. I said, 'It "We just need to adjust and learn and get back but they were outdone by the Wolf Pack, who sank Babbitt scored 26 points and grabbed ight happen tonight. It might happen up on the horse and get ready for a tough Fresno in 50 percent of their shots from 3-point land. 12 rebounds in 44 minutes of play, while ext week, but we're going to play good team on the road," Pebley said. "We didn't shoot well. We had the same steve.clark@aggiemad.usu.edu amount of field goals, but we had more shot REDEMPTION IN RENO, page 9 attempts," USU head coach Raegan Pebley said. By STEVE CLARK staff writer 1 /, •16 • 0 1% ! - Golden goal beats Aggies in OT By LANDON HEMSLEY sports senior writer USU hockey surrendered two goals in the third period and a golden goal in the overtime period and dropped a 5-4 overtime loss to Eastern Washington in Spokane, Wash. Thursday. Utah State led 2-0 after the first period and 42 after the second, but was unable to sustain the upset for the entire 60 minutes against the nowresurgent No. 3 ranked EWU Eagles. Notably, Tyler Mistelbacher, Jeremy Martin, Jay McFadden and Brendan MacDonald scored for USU in the first two stanzas, and goaltender Dan Cornelieus repelled 51 shots in the game. The effort was not enough, however. EWU's Michael Truex slipped one by Cornelius in overtime, capped the comeback for the Eagles and stuck a big golden "W" on the EWU schedule. Truex was Kent Arsenault's teammate on the D-2 all-star team that toured Europe over the winter break. "We just got outworked and outplayed," head coach Jon Eccles said of the loss. "We were a little tired. Emotions got to us. I think this came down as a result of a conditioning issue." USU is now 1-2 over its last three games of hockey dating back to December. This most recent loss of the season comes one month after its previous game. USU played twice during Finals Week — an 11-3 loss against Weber State Dec 10. and a 5-4 win against BYU in the Eccles Ice Arena on Dec. 11. USU, to that point, had not beaten any in-state opponent by fewer than four goals, accepting the 9-8 overtime win against Weber in Ogden during September and certainly had never lost to an in-state foe. The rough Finals Week was preceded by close losses in the winter tournament over Thanksgiving weekend against Eastern Washington and the University of Colorado. Coach Jon Eccles said a contributing factor to the slump was that USU was extraordinarily undermanned during Finals Week, because, of course, of final exams. "Tough game," Eccles said of the Weber game. "We had five or six players who weren't able to come, because they were trying to get some work done. That frustrated some of the other players. They let that bother them more than focusing on the game. Some of the players didn't come down. Yes, that hurt us, but we should have still won. Our focus wasn't on the game, it was on the players that didn't come." ACHAhockey.org, the Web site for the American Colliegiate Hockey Association, shows the absence of six players from the Weber State game. According to the site, these players were Jeff Sanders, MacKenzie York, Brendan MacDonald, Tyler Mistelbacher, Jason Moore and Kyle Soder. Particularly devastating to the Aggie offensive I See BLOWN LEAD, page 10 Blue&White Sports Debate Join the discussion at www.aggietownsquare.com ofr This Friday's matchup _ __ -7-- __ 4/- , -li■ vs. Connor Jones Landon Hemsley And the topics are... 1. Thoughts on Aggie men's basketball. 2. Is Louisiana Tech the team to beat in the WAC? 3. Gilbert Arenas indefinitely suspended. 4. Lane Kn dropping Tennessee for SoCaL |