Women's basketball roundup: Aggies fall to another Big Sky squad; SUU edges UVU

POCATELLO — Despite coming back from a 12-point deficit with 5:52 left in the game, Utah State (5-4) fell to Idaho State (6-4), 67-65, on Saturday. A layup by Kaela Oakes with nine seconds left lifted the Bengals over the Aggies.

Idaho State has now won six straight against Utah State. The Aggies are 1-3 against the Big Sky this season with a win against Weber State and losses to Montana, Montana State and Idaho State. USU has one more chance against the Big Sky on Dec. 19 when the Aggies face Northern Arizona on School Day at 12 p.m. Utah State has now lost three straight games.

USU was led by 15 points from senior forward Ashlee Brown, while junior guard Devyn Christensen added 13. This is the eighth time this season that Brown has scored in double figures. Senior guard Brooke Jackson added 10 points. Brown was also the leading rebounder in the game with nine, just shy of her fifth double-double of the season.

Lindsey Reed led the Bengals with 16 points, while Oakes led Idaho State with 15 points. Pickering ended the game with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Utah State jumped out to a 7-1 lead early in the game after a 3-pointer by Christensen. Chelsea Pickering, who had missed several games due to injury, cut the lead to 7-4 with a three of her own. Pickering was fantastic against the Aggies in the win last season with 29 points.

A fastbreak layup by Oakes tied the score at 11 and another Oakes bucket gave Idaho State its first lead of the game at 13-11 with less than 12 minutes left in the half.

A 5-0 run by the Bengals gave Idaho State a 23-16 advantage with 5:43 left in the first half. A Christensen three stopped the run and cut the lead to 23-19.

Pickering scored four-straight points to put the Bengal lead back at seven, 29-22 with 2:16 left in the first half. An Ashleigh Vella layup with 2:03 left in the half gave ISU its biggest lead of the half, 31-22. The Bengals used a 10-1 run to end the half with a 33-22 lead.

The Aggies felt the presence of junior guard Jenna Johnson being back in the lineup after missing a game with an injury. Johnson had four points and a steal in the first half. Christensen led USU with six points, while Brown added four points and a team-high six rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

The Bengals were led by nine points from Pickering, while Vella added seven first-half points. Idaho State outrebounded Utah State, 21-17. Utah State shot only 26.7 (8-of-30) percent in the half which was its worst first-half shooting percentage of the season. Idaho State shot exactly 50 percent (14-of-28).