Career High From Jackson Leads USU Women's Basketball to 97-86 Win Over Boise State Wednesday
Five different Aggies score in double digits in the win as USU is off to best start since 1978.
Nov. 23, 2011
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LOGAN, Utah - -
Senior guard Brooke Jackson's career-high 27 points paced the Utah State women's basketball team to a 97-86 win over former Western Athletic Conference rival Boise State Wednesday at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
USU vs.BSU Box Score
For the first time this season, senior forward Ashlee Brown did not lead the team in scoring, but she did reach double-digits for the fifth-straight game with 14 points. Junior guard Jennifer Schlott added a career-high 17 points, while senior forward Maddy Plunkett scored 11 all in the first half. Junior guard Devyn Christensen had her first double-digit scoring game of the season, adding 12 points.
Junior guard Jenna Johnson, who made her first start of the season scored eight points and added two rebounds.
Boise State was led by 30 points by Nicole Brady who also led all players with 11 rebounds. The Broncos won the battle of the boards 40-26. Utah State is 2-1 this season when it is out-rebounded by its opponent.
With the win, the Aggies improve to 4-1 this season and have won three-straight games. The 4-1 start is USU's best start since the 1978-79 season with the Aggies started the year 5-0. Boise State falls to 3-2 with the loss. USU has won the last three meetings with the Broncos.
Both teams started fast with USU's making its first three shots of the game. Behind four early points from Jackson, USU jumped out to an early 6-5 lead. Boise State scored the next five points to take a 10-6 lead with 16:27 left in the first half. The Aggies used a 10-0 run to take a 16-10 lead with just over 13 minutes left in the half.
Utah State would maintain the lead for the bulk of the first half, taking as big a lead as eight points, but the Broncos continued to stay in the game.
Boise State bounced back with a 6-0 run of its own to cut the Utah State lead to 30-28 before a long-range three from Christensen put USU back up 33-28 with 3:45 left in the half. Using the three pointer, Boise State used yet another 6-0 run to take the lead 34-33 with 1:43 left in the game. Jackson and Brown were able to score four-straight points, as USU entered the locker room with a slight 39-38 lead.
In the first half, Utah State was led by 11 points from Plunkett. Brown added eight points, while Jackson added nine in the first half. USU was out-rebounded by BSU 20-14 in the first 20 minutes. Boise State was 7-of-18 from three led by three treys from both Diana Lee and Kati Isham.
Boise State continued its strong shooting from beyond the arc in the second half to take its biggest lead of the game 62-59. Five-straight points from Jackson and a lay up from Christensen put the Aggies back on top 66-62.
Behind Jackson, the Aggies jumped out to a nine-point lead, 74-65, with nine minutes left in the game. From that point, USU maintained its lead the rest of the game. A Schlott three gave USU its first double-digit lead, 81-70, with 5:34 left in the game.
The Aggies were clutch from the charity stripe down the stretch, making five free throws in the last two minutes to seal the win.
For the game, Utah State shot a stellar 56.9 percent from the field (33-of-58). The Aggies shot 91.7 percent from the free throw line (22-of-24), while shooting 56.3 percent from three (56.3). All three were season highs. Boise State shot 46.5 percent from field (33-of-71), while going 10-of-13 from the charity stripe for 76.9 percent. The Broncos shot 30.3 percent from three (10-of-33).
Utah State closes out the two-game home stand following the Thanksgiving holiday. The Aggies will take on UC Riverside on Friday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.
Fans can follow USU women's basketball at http://twitter.com/UTAHSTATEofmind and Utah State athletics at http://twitter.com/USUAthletics.
Live stats will be available for most Utah State women's basketball games through the women's basketball page on www.utahstateaggies.com, by clicking on GameTracker in the current events box. All home games can be viewed by clicking on "Watch Live."
For tickets contact the USU Athletics Ticket Office at (435)797-0305 or at 1-888-U-STATE-1 (1-888-878-2831) for more information or visit the Utah State athletic web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com.
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