Women's college basketball roundup: Wildcats knock off Pac-10 opponent 77-66

OGDEN — The Weber State women's basketball team squared its record at 1-1 Wednesday night with a 77-66 win over the University of Washington at the Dee Events Center.

The win was the first for the Wildcats over a Pac-10 school since 1996.

"We came out very aggressive defensively tonight," said WSU head coach Carla Taylor. "Our motto coming in was 'Play Hard, Play Together and Have Fun,' and that really helped take some pressure off our players on the offensive end."

The Wildcats held the Huskies to 29 percent shooting over the first 20 minutes and junior guard Sarah Conner scored 15 of her 18 points in the opening half to take a 40-32 lead at the break.

In the second half, the Wildcats came out strong again, pushing the lead to 11 points with 14:56 remaining, but a quick 6-0 run by Washington cut the lead to five. The Huskies got as close as three points with 6:36 left, but Caitlin Anderson keyed an 11-4 burst to put Weber State back up by 10 with 3:06 remaining. The 'Cats then hit 6 of 8 free throws over the final two minutes to seal the win.

Caitlin Anderson led the Wildcats with a game-high 22 points on 9 of 15 shooting from the floor. The sophomore forward also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

"Playing Caitlin at the 4-spot was a big key for us tonight," said Taylor. "Their bigs have to step out and guard her on the perimeter and that's a mismatch in our favor. Having her at that position and playing small is a new dimension for us."

Tonya Schnibbe added 16 points for the Wildcats and led all players with eight assists. Conner added six rebounds and three assists to her 18 points, which led the Wildcats to a 27-18 edge in bench scoring.

The Wildcats will return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 25 as they play host to Westminster College at 7:00 p.m.

UTAH STATE 64, N. ARIZONA 56 (OT): At Logan, senior guard Ana Pares' career-high 18 points powered Utah State past Northern Arizona on Wednesday night.

The Aggies also got double-doubles from senior guard Danyelle Snelgro and junior forward Lydia Whitehead to chop down the Lumberjacks for USU's first victory of the season.

Utah State evened its record at 1-1, while NAU fell to 0-3. USU now leads the all-time series with NAU, 13-4. The Aggies got their first win of the year in only their second game this season compared to not nabbing victory until their sixth contest last year.

With 18 points Wednesday, Pares topped her career high for the second-straight week, topping last week's against Portland, as the Aggies rallied from a 34-27 halftime deficit. Snelgro added 13 points and pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds, while Whitehead notched her second double-double in as many games with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

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