Women's basketball: Utah State, Dixie State suffer setbacks

TEMPE, Ariz. — Utah State's women's basketball team dropped its first game of the ASU Classic, 67-46, to Pepperdine on Friday night at the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz.

The Aggies fell victim to the sharp shooting of Katie Menton, who made six 3-pointers to lead the Waves.

Utah State will finish action at the ASU Classic against a very familiar foe — Idaho State — today at 1 p.m. (MST). The Aggies and the Bengals have met 24 times previously, with USU holding a slight 13-11 advantage. The two teams will become very familiar with each other in the next two weeks as the Aggies' next two games are against the Bengals. The two teams will renew their rivalry on Saturday, Dec. 12, in Pocatello.

With the loss, Utah State falls to 3-2 this season, while Pepperdine moves to 5-3 with the win.

Utah State was led by junior guard Amber White, who scored 14 points. It was the fourth time this season that White has scored in double figures. Senior center Lydia Whitehead and redshirt freshman Banna Diop each had 10 rebounds, which was the first time this season that either has reached double figures on the boards. Junior guard LaCale Pringle-Buchanan had a career-high five steals.

Pepperdine came out strong, scoring 14 of the first 16 points of the game. The Waves started out by shooting 6-of-7 from the field. First-half turnovers also hurt the Aggies as USU had 10 turnovers in the first 13 minutes of action. USU ended the game with a season-high 24 turnovers.

A 3-pointer by Pringle-Buchanan against her former team cut the lead to five, 17-12. But the Waves went on a 7-0 run to increase the lead back to 14, 26-12. The half ended with the Waves holding a 35-22 advantage.

The 22 points in the first half were the smallest first-half output of the season for Utah State. It was also the first time this season that the Aggies trailed at halftime. At the half, Utah State had four players with four points, including Pringle-Buchanan, Alice Coddington, TJ Goddard and Whitehead. The Aggies shot only 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from the field in the first half. Despite shooting 18 free throws in the first half, USU was able to only convert 11.

In the second half, the Aggie shooting improved dramatically. USU used a 6-0 run to cut the deficit down to 43-36 with 12:26 left in the second half. The Aggies got back into the game with solid rebounding from senior Nicole Johnson and redshirt freshman Banna Diop. The Waves responded with a 5-0 run of their own to push the lead back to 48-36. The closest USU would get in the second half was seven points, as the Waves would pull away.