USU women’s basketball team beats Northridge, goes above .500 in conference

By Jerome Le Carrou

January 18, 2005 | Ali Aird led the Aggies with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks in a 61-57 victory Saturday night in the Spectrum against the Cal State Northridge Matadors.

The Aggies improve to 8-6 on the season and 3-2 in conference play -- the first time since women’s basketball was reinstated last year that USU has been above .500 in conference..

Before the game, the Aggies knew Northridge was not the same team they beat twice last year.

On the court the battle was hard as the Matadors were led by Ofa Tulikihihifo, who scored 17 points, and Lajoyce King, who scored 14.

“Northridge was so much better this year, they had a really good game against us,” said Aggies coach Raegan Pebley after the game.

King scored 11 points in the first half, and after 10 minutes the Matadors were leading 17-9. But the Aggies were still aggressive and showed the Matadors the struggle was far from over. Just after a foul by Jamie McCaa against Aggie guard Camille Brox, the Aggies started closing the gap and finished the first half only down 27-25.

The Aggies had a better second half with a great start. Freshman Taylor Richards scored all of her 14 points after halftime, followed by Ali Aird who scored 12 points.

“Ali had a great second half, and Taylor stayed confident even if her leg was injured,” said coach Pebley after the game.

After four minutes the Aggies had a 9-2 run to start the half, and led 34-29. The Aggies knew that they had to contain Tulikihihifo and King.

“We try to keep fresh legs on Ofa and King, but I think that King is the most athletic player of the conference. She is tough,” Pebley said.

“To shut down Ofa was the key,” said Richards.

But Tulikihihifo scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds in the second half, enabling the Matadors to come back to a 54-54 tie with 2:00 left.

A few seconds later, Richards scored a 3-pointer from the middle left, putting the Aggies in the lead for good.

“The 3-point shot at the end was so important. It gave us a decisive advantage,” said Pebley.

Richards added three free shots and Aird scored her last two points. The Matadors’ Krisztina Fuleki added three free shots and had a total of 10 points in the second half.

The Aggies shot only 36.1 percent from the field while the Matadors shot 41.5 percent.

“This win is so important for the confidence building,” said Brox.

“Before going on the road where we will play Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside, we know that we can beat anyone” added Aird.

“Kids are getting better and better,” said Pebley, who is looking forward to extend to four her three-game winning record in conference.

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