LOGAN, Utah – Utah State women’s basketball used a dominant 24-3 run coming out of halftime to secure a 71-40 victory over San Francisco State in the team’s lone preseason exhibition on Thursday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

USU’s backcourt transfer duo of junior Aaliyah Gayles and senior Marina Asensio led the Aggies with 16 and 12 points, respectively. Gayles shot 6-of-12 from the floor, including 2-of-6 from 3-point range, and added six rebounds and three assists. Asensio shot 4-of-8 overall and 3-of-5 from deep, also adding two rebounds and two assists.

Graduate guard Karyn Sanford led USU with four assists, also filling the stat sheet with six points, three rebounds and a team-high two blocks. Sophomore guard Elise Livingston added nine points, four rebounds and three assists while freshman guard Aitana Rosello Lopez finished with nine points plus one rebound, an assist and two steals. Senior center Sophie Sene and freshman guard Paloma Munoz Herreros led USU with three steals apiece. Sene also led the Aggies with seven rebounds.

As a team, the Aggies scored 30 fastbreak points while holding the Gators without a single fastbreak point. USU also held edges in rebounding (45-40), points off turnovers (33-10) and points in the paint (40-16). Utah State shot 40.9 percent from the field (27-of-66), including 28.6 percent from behind the arc (6-of-21), but held SFSU to 25.5 percent shooting overall (14-of-55) and 14.8 percent (4-of-27) on 3-point attempts.

Utah State sprung out of the gates with the game’s first six points. A 3-pointer from Asensio preceded a layup from Gayles that gave the Aggies the early lead. Gayles and Asensio scored nine and seven points, respectively, to account for all of USU’s first-quarter points as the team struggled to find rhythm offensively. In the second quarter, the defense began to create offense, however, as USU forced 11 turnovers to help the Aggies build a double-digit lead entering halftime. 

In the third quarter, Utah State took over on both ends of the floor. The Aggies shot 50.0 percent from the field in the third frame while holding the Gators to only three points in the entire quarter. Utah State held SFSU scoreless for over an 11-minute stretch of the second half to spur the Aggies to their largest lead of the night at 33 points, allowing USU to coast in the final frame to a 70-41 victory.

Up Next

Utah State opens the regular season on Friday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m., when the Aggies host Utah at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. 

Tickets

Season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here or by visiting the USU Ticket Office. Single-game tickets and mini-plans will go on sale at a later date.

Fans can follow USU women’s basketball on Twitter, @USUWBasketball, on Instagram, @USUWBasketball, as well as on Facebook, at /USUWBB. Aggie fans can also follow Utah State Athletics on Twitter, @USUAthletics, on Instagram, @USUAthletics and on Facebook at /USUAthletics.

 

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