USU women: Aggies begin final homestand of the year against Louisiana Tech Thursday

Utah State women’s basketball returns to action after a week off, hosting Louisiana Tech on Thursday, Feb. 28, at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum at 7 p.m.

The Aggies (14-11, 11-3 WAC) will conclude the home portion of the regular-season schedule with two Western Athletic Conference games this week. Utah State will start with Louisiana Tech (12-13, 8-6 WAC) and conclude the homestand against UT Arlington (6-19, 3-11 WAC) on Saturday, March 2.

USU had its first blemish of the month with a road loss at New Mexico State on Feb.16. USU is currently 3-1 in February. Utah State had its season-long eight-game winning streak halted with the 106-94 loss to New Mexico State. The streak began after a 103-80 loss to San Jose State on Jan. 12.

Louisiana Tech holds a 14-3 series lead over Utah State. The Aggies have captured three wins against the Lady Techsters, all of which occurred in Ruston, La. USU captured a hard-fought overtime time win against LA Tech, 76-75, in overtime on Jan. 26 in Ruston. Senior guard Jenna Johnson’s layup with five seconds left put the Aggies on top.

The Lady Techsters are 3-3 in their last six games with wins over Idaho, UT Arlington and UTSA, and losses to UALR, Texas State and Seattle.

Louisiana Tech has four players scoring in double figures, led by Kelia Shleton who scores 13.8 points per game. Brittany Lewis is second on the team in scoring with 11.3 ppg. Lewis is third in the WAC in field goal percentage (51.2 percent), behind Seattle’s Kacie Sowell (58.4 percent) and USU’s Franny Vaaulu (55.7 percent).

Senior guard Devyn Christensen is tied for second in the WAC scoring, averaging 19.9 points per game. She is tied with San Jose State’s Ta’Rea Cunnigan and behind Texas State’s Diamond Ford (21.1 ppg). Johnson is seventh, averaging 14.2 ppg, while junior guard Jennifer Schlott is 11th in scoring with 13.6 ppg. Christensen, who broke the WAC’s single-season record for free throw percentage last season, is first this season, shooting 91.6 percent.

After Saturday's game, the Aggies will honor their four seniors: Christensen, Johnson, Pualei Furtado and Banna Diop.

Doug Hoffman is the assistant athletic director for Utah State University Athletic Media Relations.