Feb. 24, 2008

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LOGAN, Utah - Jamelah Brown had a baseline jumper for the go-ahead points and a layup for the insurance points to lead Utah State to a thrilling, 44-40, win over Fresno State, upsetting the Western Athletic Conference leader in women's basketball action Sunday at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

The victory was the Aggies' third in a row as Utah State improves to 9-16 overall and 5-8 in WAC play, while the Bulldogs had their five-game win streak snapped and now have a 16-10 overall and 11-2 WAC record.

With the win, USU moves within a game and a half of fifth-place Louisiana Tech, the Aggies' next opponent, while knocking Fresno State from a lone perch atop the conference standings and into a tie with Boise State.

Sunday was just the Aggies' second win over the Bulldogs, but they have both been in dramatic fashion after last year's 81-75 overtime victory at Logan. USU is now 2-4 all-time vs. Fresno State.

Brown, a senior guard, netted a baseline jumper with 1:46 left for a 42-40 lead and then iced the win on a layup with 6.1 seconds on the clock. Those were four of her 12 points, joining senior forward Jenny Gross in double-figures as Gross was two points shy of her career-high with 17 points.

Freshman guard Alice Coddington and Brown tied for team-high rebounding honors with seven each, a new career-high for Coddington.

Fresno State only had one player in double-digit scoring behind Erica Henry's 10 points and game-high 15 rebounds, leading the Bulldogs to a dominating, 43-34, rebounding advantage including 19 on the offensive glass. At halftime, Utah State had 12 rebounds total while Fresno State had 12 offensive rebounds alone on the way to a 26 total first-half boards.

The Aggies netted a season-low points on their home court, but more than made up for it with stifling defense in holding Fresno State to a USU-opponent season-low points in a WAC game, as well as 26.9 percent (14-of-52) field goal shooting and forced 20 turnovers.

USU was 18-of-55 (32.7 percent) from the field, hitting 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) from three-point range compared to 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) behind the arc for Fresno State.

The Bulldogs shot 11 free throws in the game before the Aggies attempted one, as Fresno State made more shots at the charity stripe (8-of-11, 72.7 percent) than Utah State attempted (4-of-6, 66.7 percent).

After Utah State took a 11-7 lead on a Gross layup at 12:43, Fresno State countered with a 13-2 spurt to go ahead 20-13 on a trey by Jaleesa Ross at the 6:47 mark. Brown later drained a three-pointer from the right corner with 1:07 on the first stanza clock to send the game into halftime tied at 22-all, marking the first time this season that either team had been tied at the break.

The teams went back and forth before USU senior guard Taylor Richards hit a deep three-pointer from the top of the arc with 2:31 remaining as the shot clock was winding down to make it 40-40. On the ensuing Fresno State possession, Richards had a steal that led to Brown's baseline jumper for the fifth lead change of the ballgame and breaking the seventh tie.

After the Bulldogs and Aggies traded missed three-pointers, the USU defense forced a turnover by Fresno State's Tierre Wilson with 14.5 seconds left to regain possession. With only three team fouls to that point, Fresno State had to foul a lot in a short amount of time. After two whistled calls, the Aggies moved the ball around before junior guard Danyelle Snelgro hit a streaking Brown with a long pass for the final layup to secure the win and spark the Aggies' celebration.

Utah State travels to Ruston, La., to take on Louisiana Tech on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. (MT) in USU's final regular-season road game.

The Aggies return home to host Boise State on Thursday, March 6 and Idaho on Saturday, March 8 with both contests starting at 7 p.m. (MT) at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The game against Idaho will be Senior Night for Utah State as the Aggies will honor their three seniors, Brown, Gross and Richards.

Utah State women's basketball tickets are available through the USU Ticket Office at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, online at www.UtahStateAggies.com and clicking on "tickets" in left column, or by calling or (435) 797-0305 or 1-888-U-STATE-1 (1-888-878-2831).

All Aggies women's basketball games can be heard on KLGN (1390 AM) in Logan with Evan Nyman calling the play-by-play and former USU women's basketball player Ashley Rutledge will be providing color commentary for home games. They can also be heard on the web through Yahoo! Sports, by going to the Utah State Athletics home page at www.UtahStateAggies.com and clicking on the Yahoo! Sports link in the right hand column.