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Show Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Winless Utah State falls in Los Angeles BY JASON BORBA staff writer The Utah State women's basketball team made it three losses in three games after falling to Loyola Marymount on Saturday. The Aggies' lost to the Lions 98-81 despite a career-best from senior Devyn Christensen. "We have to make adjustments, we've been saying that for three games, its not a huge negative but there are some things that are common denominators in the three games that we have lost that we haven't done on the floor," said USU head coach Jerry Finkbeiner. "The biggest challenge will be finding practice time because we travel so much the first month of the season to make all of our changes." USU has fallen to 0-3 on the season while LMU is now 2-2. The Aggies were led by Christensen, who poured in a career-high 31 points to go along with seven rebounds. Sophomore Franny Vaaulu had 18 points and senior Jenna Johnson chipped in 12 points and a team-best nine boards. "Devyn Christensen played extremely well, played 39 minutes." Finkbeiner said. "I think Franny has had two good game games on the road, and Jenna Johnson. Those three are our leaders both emotionally and stat-wise for us. Page 9 StatesmanSpOrtS STUCKI: A brighter future awaits *From page 7 Andersen is known to prioritize most, the part of the game Utah State founded its wins on this season and the part of the game in which USU is among the nation's best in several categories. It was even more appropriate the ending tackle was made by Doughty, a former walk-on who symbolizes a rise from the depths to achieve greatness. I wasn't gathered among the masses of students in the Spectrum to watch the game. Instead, I was in Pocatello, Idaho, for my great-grandfather's funeral the day before. He lived in poverty for much of his life and could easily have related to the game's underdog subplots. My uncles and I gathered around my dad's laptop screen to watch the Aggies, and our excitement built as Utah State's defense made stop after stop. I'm sure even my great-grandfather, who was not an Aggie fan but spent the majority of his life coaching and refereeing high school football, was cheering right along with us. His funeral wasn't the sad, depressing event often depicted in movies: He rejoined his sweetheart eight days after his 100th birthday and eight years to the day his wife passed away. Instead, it was a celebration of his life and his depart into a better world. So too was Saturday's game a goodbye to life in the WAC and college football mediocrity, a salute to Andersen's resurrection of a once-dead football program and a celebration of a move to a brighter future in the Mountain West Conference. — Tavin Stucki is in his third year at Utah State, majoring in journalism. He is an avid Aggie fan and has been since birth. Follow him on Twitter at @StuckiAggies and send any comments to tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu . B-BALL: Walker returns to Spectrum f The Lions had three stellar performances from Alex Cowling, Mackenzie Keirns and Hazel Ramirez. Cowling had a team-high 24 points for LMU. Keirns had a doubledouble with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Ramirez had her own double-double with 15 points and 12 assists. LMU took advantage of a slow start by USU, jumping out to an early 11-4 lead with four minutes played. The Aggies fought back and took the lead 20-18 with just over 11 minutes remaining in the half. The Lions regained the lead a minute later and didn't give it up for the remainder of the game. Fourteen USU turnovers helped LMU take 37-27 lead with five minutes left in the first half. The Aggies weren't able to trim the Lions lead and went into halftime trailing 46-36. Christensen had 13 points in the first half to lead all scorers. LMU continued its hot shooting into the second quarter and used a 21-10 run to push their lead to 21 points with 14 minutes remaining in the game. Offensive rebounding and turnovers led to easy scores for the Lions. Christensen tried to keep USU in the game by scoring 18 points in the second half. The Aggies cut the lead to 77-67 with seven minutes remaining, but that's as close as they would get as the Lions closed out the game. USU finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field and 25 percent from beyond the arc. The Aggies were 24-28 from the free throw line but it wasn't enough to give them the win. "Our shooting was a little bit better but our 3-point shots were not good," Finkbeiner said. "We were 0-8 in the second half." The Aggies next game will be Tuesday night at 8 p.m. in Anchorage, Alaska, where they take on Prairie View A&M in the Great Alaska Shootout. "We are in it for the long haul," Finkbeiner said. "I told the girls that it's a long season." — jborba@aggiemaiLusu.edu Twitter: @JBorbal5 *From page 8 awhile." The Islanders made 10-21 shots from behind the arc, but the Aggies had 10 more rebounds in the game. Aggie point guard TeNale Roland had no turnovers in the game while putting up nine points and grabbing a pair of rebounds. "Yes, Coach Morrill was pretty happy," Roland said. "He said something about it in the locker room, but I want to congratulate my teammates who knocked down shots when I got them the ball. They kept shooting so I give the credit to them." Center Jarred Shaw and sophomore Preston Medlin each had 17 points to lead Utah State. Shaw had seven rebounds while Medlin dished out four assists and grabbed two steals. USU FRONT ROW FANS heckle former Aggie and current Saint Mary's guard James Walker Ill in Utah State's 67-58 loss to the Gaels on Thursday in the Spectrum. DELAYNE LOCKE photo — tavin.stucki@aggiemail. usu.edu Twitter: @StuckiAggies FIRST 1,500 STUDENTS IN ATTENDANCE RECEIVE FREE HOT DOG AND DRINK! *Available while supplies last *Voucher distributed at student entrance *Must present valid USU student ID |