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USU Women's Hoops End Of Season Notes
March 20, 2007
LOGAN, Utah - Complete USU WBB End Of Season Notes in PDF Format
Utah State (11-18, 7-9 WAC)
Utah State women's basketball finished its fourth season since reinstatement and its second season in the Western Athletic Conference with an 11-18 overall record and a 7-9 ledger in WAC play. The Aggies, who were picked ninth in the preseason poll, finished sixth in the standings. USU was the No. 6 seed for the WAC Tournament, falling to third-seeded Nevada, 61-60, in the quarterfinals. The sixth-seed matches USU's highest seeding for a conference tournament under head coach Raegan Pebley. Utah State was a sixth-seed for the Big West Tournament in 2005, after being an eight-seed for the Big West Tourney in 2004. Last season in the WAC Tournament, the Aggies were the ninth-seed, losing to eighth-seeded Idaho, 70-59, in the play-in game. Utah State has never won a conference tournament game under Pebley, and the last time an Aggie team won a conference postseason game was 1977 in the AIAW Playoffs. Nonetheless, the Aggies surpassed last season's overall win total (3-24) and last year's WAC victory total (2-14), as well as exceeding preseason expectations as USU was picked ninth in both WAC preseason coaches and media polls. Senior forward Brittany Phillips finishes her career at the No. 6 spot on USU's Career Scoring List, ending with 892 points, bumping April Hatch (1984-85) to seventh with 877 points, as well as former teammate Ali (Aird) Marchant (2003-06) to No. 8 with 874 points. Junior guard Taylor Richards also eclipsed the 800 point milestone, and currently has 850 career points and moving up to the No. 10 position on the career scoring list and she will enter her senior season needing 13 points to pass Mary Danielson (1981-82) at No. 9 with 862 points. Richards, who is the career assists record holder with 296 assists, also has sole possession of the No. 8 spot on USU's career steals list with her 113 career steals needing 11 more steals to crack the top three on the steals list. SEASON XIX - The 2006-07 season marks the 19th year of women's basketball at USU, and just the fourth since the program was restarted prior to the 2003-04 season. The women's hoops program at USU had been disbanded following the 1987 season due to budget cuts. USU is playing in its second season in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) after playing its first two seasons in the Big West Conference. ABOUT UTAH STATE - The Aggies ended regular-season action with a 7-9 WAC record, and USU was the sixth seed for the WAC Tournament, falling to third-seed Nevada, 61-60, in the quarterfinals, ending the season with an 11-18 record. Nonetheless, the Aggies surpassed last season's overall win total (3-24) and last year's WAC victory total (2-14), as well as exceeding preseason expectations as USU was picked ninth in both WAC preseason coaches and media polls. Utah State surpassed last season's win total (3-24) with the Aggies' fourth win of the year, knocking off Colgate, 58-42, on Dec. 30. With a 78-70 win over Idaho on Jan. 11, USU won consecutive games for the first time this season. The win was also gave USU its first back-to-back victories since February of 2005, and also doubled the Aggies' win total from last season when USU was 3-24. USU's 58-50 win over San Jose State on Jan. 20, gave the Aggies a 3-2 WAC mark, surpassing last year's WAC record (2-14). As a team, USU shot .708 at the charity stripe overall, ranking third in the WAC statistics, but were second in the league in WAC only games (.709). Overall, the Aggies were eighth in scoring offense (59.6 ppg) and sixth in scoring defense (65.4 ppg), to rank seventh in the league in scoring margin (-5.9). {See page 4 for complete WAC and WAC only rankings} USU, which was second in the nation NCAA stats on Dec. 2, slipped out of the Top 100, currently ranked 108th in the country. The Aggies had seven players that have shot at least 10 free throws shooting 67.5 percent or better from the charity stripe. Junior guard Taylor Richards (5-4, West Valley City, Utah), tied for the team-lead in scoring, netting 11.8 ppg, as well as leading the team in assists (3.1 apg), ranking tied for fourth in the conference in assists and tied for 12th in scoring. Richards also was fourth in the league overall in three-point percentage (.340, 32-94) and led the conference in WAC only games (.417, 20-48). {See Page 4 for Richards' complete WAC rankings} Richards was named the WAC Player of the Week on Jan. 8 after tallying a career-high 28 points in USU's win over Fresno State on Jan. 6. {See below} After scoring in double-figures nine times in 2005-06, with a season and at the time career-high of 22 points, Richards posted double figures in 22 of the Aggies' 29 games, including 14 of the last 18. Her longest streak was six-straight games in double-digits. Richards has not only surpassed her single-season career-high of 289 points from her freshman season, but also topped the 300-point plateau, ending the season with 342 points, one point shy of cracking USU's single-season top 15 list. Ali (Aird) Marchant has the No. 15 spot with 343 points in the 2004 season. Richards has also eclipsed the 800 point milestone for her career, and currently has 850 career points and moving up to the No. 10 position on the career scoring list and she will enter her senior season needing 13 points to pass Mary Danielson (1981-82) at No. 9 with 862 points. In addition to being USU's Career Assists leader with 296, Richards also holds the No. 3 spot on USU's Career Three-Pointers Made List, currently with 69 career three-pointers, and is No. 8 in Career Steals with 113 career steals, needing 11 more steals to crack the top three on the steals list. Richards logged a team-high 17 points in the WAC Tournament loss to Nevada, as well as dishing out a game-high five assists. Brittany Phillips, (SR, F, 6-0, Orem, Utah), led USU in rebounding and shared the team lead in scoring with Richards, netting 11.8 ppg while pulling down 5.8 rpg. Phillips ranks tied for 12th in the conference in scoring and 13th in rebounding, as well as second in free throw percentage (.786, 81-103) and would rank second in the league in three-point percentage (.362, 25-69), but she is just off the 1.0 made pg (0.9) average to qualify. {See Page 4 for Phillips' WAC rankings}. Phillips notched career highs with 25 points and 12 rebounds in the win over New Mexico State on Feb. 5, hitting a season-high three treys. Phillips was named WAC Player of the Week for her career-high performance in the NMSU game, and adding a team-high 12 points in the win at Idaho on Feb. 10. {See below} Phillips amassed 342 points this season, topping her previous single-season career-high of 314 points her sophomore season. The 342 points was tied with Richards for leading USU, and was one point shy of cracking USU's single-season top 15 list. Ali (Aird) Marchant has the No. 15 spot with 343 points in the 2004 season. With 892 career points, Phillips ends her career at the No. 6 spot on USU's career scoring list, bumping April Hatch (1984-85) to seventh with 877 points, as well as former teammate Ali (Aird) Marchant (2003-06) to No. 8 with 874 points. Phillips tallied 15 points in the WAC Tournament loss to Nevada, marking her 10th time in last 11 games to log double-figures, as well as 14 of the final 17 games, with a total of 20 times in USU's 29 games. Sophomore guard Danyelle Snelgro (5-5, Altadena, Calif.) posted 7.8 ppg, along with dishing out 3.0 apg and swiping 1.9 spg, ranking seventh in the league in both assists and steals. In WAC only games, Snelgro is second in the league in assists (3.8 apg), dishing out four or more assists in eight of the 14 WAC games she played in. Snelgro also leads the WAC in assist-TO ratio in WAC only games (1.60) and is second overall (1.08). {See page 4 for complete WAC rankings} Snelgro has surpassed her season-total from last year in assists with 81 helpers, nearly doubling last season's 45 assists. Snelgro now has 126 career assists, needing nine assists to reach the USU Career Assists List. ROAD WOE-IORS - The loss at Hawai'i on Feb. 18 snapped Utah State's two-game win streak on the road, marking the first time since 2004 that USU has won back-to-back road games. This season the Aggies were just 3-12 overall in away games, as the win at New Mexico State on Feb. 5 snapped an eight-game road losing skid, and was USU's first WAC road victory of the season, and after the March 3 loss at Fresno State, USU was 2-6 in road WAC action. Two of USU's all-time three WAC wins are at New Mexico State's Pan American Center. Under head coach Raegan Pebley, USU is 12-52 (.188) overall on the road and 3-13 in WAC away games. TREND TALKING - USU's loss to Nevada in the WAC Tournament continued some trends for the Aggies: USU was 2-14 when trailing at the half and are 9-4 when leading at halftime... USU was 6-2 when out-rebounding the opponent, but were just 4-14 when being out-rebounded... the Aggies were 3-12 when committing more turnovers than the opponent... USU was 5-14 when shooting the same or fewer free throws than the opposition... USU was 7-3 when shooting better than 40 percent, but 4-15 when shooting less than 40 percent... the Aggies were 4-13 when scoring under 60 points... USU was 6-15 when the opposition scores 60 or more points... USU was 3-2 on Thursday's, its most successful day of the week, however the Aggies 1-4 on Wednesday's, 1-2 on Friday's and 2-2 on Saturday's... After finishing February with a 4-3 record, the Aggies' first winning record for a month since January of the 2004-05 season, USU was 0-3 in March. PHILLIPS NAMED WAC PLAYER OF WEEK - Feb. 12 - Utah State senior Brittany Phillips was named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball player of the week it was announced by the league office on Feb. 12. USU's Jaycee Carroll won the men's award as well for the week. USU's sweep of the women's and men's award mark the second time this season that a school has swept the award, as Boise State's Jessica Thompson and Coby Carl received the respective honors on Jan. 29. Phillips, a 6-0, senior, forward from Mountain View High School in Orem, Utah, tallied career highs of 25 points and 12 rebounds in Monday's 68-51 win at New Mexico State. She then added a team-high 12 points in Saturday's 57-53 win at Idaho, helping Utah State win back-to-back road games for the first time since Nov. 2004. Phillips hit a season-high three three-pointers in Monday's win as well. Phillips, who earned honorable mention all-Big West honors as a sophomore in 2005, became the second Aggie to earn a WAC player of the week award this season as Taylor Richards claimed the honor on Jan. 8, marking the first weekly player award for USU women's basketball since February 2005. Overall, this is the fourth conference weekly player honor awarded to an Aggie player under head coach Raegan Pebley. RICHARDS NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Jan. 8 - Richards was named WAC Player of the Week after tallying a career-high 28 points, including 17 in the second half, in USU's win over Fresno State on Jan. 6. In the game she also dished out four assists to give her 248 for her career and became USU's career assists leader, passing Pam Shirley (1977-79) with 245 assists. She also had four steals in the contest. She also made a career-high 10 free throws, finishing the night 10-11. In an 80-70 loss to Boise State on Jan. 4, Richards had 11 points to go with five assists and three steals. In the Aggies' two games, Richards shot 50.0 percent (13-26) from the field, including 2-5 (40.0 percent) from three-point range, hitting 2-3 against Fresno State. Richards' 28 points was the most scored by an Aggie under head coach Raegan Pebley since Christina Zdenek tallied 31 in a USU win on Jan. 10, 2004 over Cal Poly, when current USU assistant coach Kristy Flores was an assistant at Cal Poly. That win was USU's first win since reinstating the program for the 2003-04 season. The honor is the first WAC Player of the Week award for a Utah State player since joining the WAC last season, and is the first conference player of the week honor since Ali (Aird) Marchant was named Big West Player of the Week on Feb. 21, 2005. Overall it is the third conference player of the week honor awarded to an Aggie player under head coach Raegan Pebley, as Christina Zdenek received a Big West honor on Oct. 29, 2004. NO USU PLAYERS ON ALL-WAC HONOREE LISTS - There were no Utah State players on the all-WAC award lists, released March 4 by the conference office. This is the first season under head coach Raegan Pebley that USU did not have any conference award winners. Last season, guard Danyelle Snelgro was on the WAC all-Freshman Team. {See Page 7 for complete 2006-07 all-WAC award list}. PHILLIPS AND RICHARDS ON CAREER SCORING LIST - With 892 career points, Phillips ends her career at the No. 6 spot on USU's career scoring list, bumping April Hatch (1984-85) to seventh with 877 points, as well as former teammate Ali (Aird) Marchant (2003-06) to No. 8 with 874 points. Junior guard Taylor Richards also eclipsed the 800 point milestone, and currently has 850 career points and moving up to the No. 10 position on the career scoring list and she will enter her senior season needing 13 points to pass Mary Danielson (1981-82) at No. 9 with 862 points. RICHARDS IS USU CAREER ASSISTS RECORD HOLDER/TOP 10 STEALS LIST - Junior guard Taylor Richards now has 296 assists for her career, surpassing Pam Shirley for the top spot on USU's Career Assist List, as Shirley had 245 assists from 1977-79. Richards also has 113 career steals, taking over sole possession for No. 9 on the USU Career Steals List, and needing 11 steals to crack the top three. RECORD-HOLDER HAGEN / NO. 2 IN GAMES PLAYED- Brittany Hagen became the USU record holder for career 3-pointers last year, and entered her senior season with 83 treys, ranking second in career 3-point FG percentage (83-234, .355). Hagen ends her career 109-333, .327 from three-point range for her career, including 26-99 (.263) this season. Hagen hit her 100th career three-pointer on Jan. 6, part of her season-high three treys on the way to a season-high 14 points, and attempted her milestone 300th career trey on Jan. 20. When she took the court on Jan. 24, Hagen played in her 100th career game, and she finishes her Aggie career in sole possession of second on USU's Career Games Played List. Hagen played in 111 career games, the only player to play in all 111 games since USU reinstated women's basketball for the 2003-04 season. Also on Jan. 24, Hagen tallied her 500th career point, and finishes with 538 career points. NEW LAST NAME, SAME RECORD-HOLDER - Brittany (Tressler) Phillips got married last summer, and she entered her senior season first in career 3-point FG percentage (50-132, .379), and is third in 3-pointers made, as well as second in career free throw percentage (128-170, .753). Phillips ends her Aggie career 75-201 (.373) behind the three-point arc, including 24-67 (.362) this season, and has moved into second on the career 3-pointers made list. She was 209-273 (.766) for her career at the free throw line, going 81-103 (.786) this year. PEBLEY'S BITS - Head coach Raegan Pebley did not travel to La Tech due to her pregnancy, nor did she travel to San Jose State, New Mexico State, and Idaho, after having a baby on Jan. 30. Pebley coached USU's home game on Feb. 15, but was not on the Aggies' bench at Hawai'i at Feb. 18. Pebley made the trip to Nevada and Fresno State, her first road trip since Jan. 24 at Boise State. - Pebley just completed her fourth season, and now has an overall record of 33-78 (.297) in 111 games overall and a 9-23 (.281) mark in WAC action... Pebley is in her fourth season, which is tied for the most among USU women's basketball coaches. Fern Gardner (1972-76) and Cindy Perkins (1978-82) also had four-year tenures leading the Aggies' program. Gardner has the most wins (55) while Perkins has coached in the most games (115) in USU coaching history. - The 2006-07 senior class was the first group of players that Pebley recruited and developed from freshmen to seniors, and this class is the first senior class to be here four years since 1986-87, as USU reinstated women's basketball for the 2003-04 season. - Seven players earned academic all-conference honors in 2006, the most under Pebley's tenure. LAST TIME OUT - LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Sixth-seeded Utah State did not score for the final 5:45 of the game, and the Aggies lost to third-seeded Nevada, 61-60, Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament at the Pan American Center on the campus of New Mexico State. Utah State ends its season with a 11-18 record, losing four in a row and five of its last six. "This was heartbreaking, but it is also a learning experience," fourth-year head coach Raegan Pebley said. "The girls now know that anything could happen, especially in close games." The loss continues USU's postseason struggles, as the Aggies have lost all four of their conference tournament games under Pebley. USU's sixth-seed matches the Aggies' highest seeding for a conference tournament. Nonetheless, the Aggies exceeded preseason expectations, finishing sixth in the conference standings after being picked last at ninth in the WAC preseason poll. USU also surpassed last season's win total (3-24) and last year's WAC victory total (2-14). "It's tough especially when you know you competed to the very end of the game, when you put it all out there," Richards said. Utah State shot a season-best 51.2 percent (22-43) from the field, including tying a season-high 44.4 percent (4-9) from three-point range. The Aggies also were 12-14 (85.7 percent) at the free pitch stripe. However, USU did not have a field goal attempt for the final 2:49 of the game. Junior guard Taylor Richards led Utah State with 17 points as well as dishing out a game-high five assists. Senior forward Brittany Phillips tossed in 15 points to go with seven rebounds, while junior forward Jenny Gross pulled down a career-high and Utah State season-high 13 rebounds. USU tied Nevada with 34 rebounds apiece, as the Aggies are now 1-2 when tying the opponent in rebounding. The Wolf Pack were led by 23 points by Dellena Criner, the only Nevada player in double-figures. Down 8-5 in the early going, the Aggies mounted a charge, taking the lead at 14-13 on a free throw by Phillips and later led 24-18 after a layup from sophomore forward Lindsey Freeze at the 7:43 mark. After Nevada tied the score at 24-all, USU closed out the half on a 10-4 run, as Gross blocked a shot that lead to a fast break layup from Richards and the Aggies took a 34-28 lead into halftime. USU shot 54.5 percent (12-22) from the field in the first half, matching its season-high for field goal percentage in a half, when the Aggies also were 12-22 in the first half of their 79-63 loss at Hawai'i on Feb. 18. The Aggies bolted out of halftime to go ahead 43-32 after a three-pointer from Phillips with 18:16 on the clock, snapping her 0-12 streak over the last four games, last making a three-pointer Feb. 22. USU opened the half 6-6, hitting two treys to take a 49-38 lead at the 15:55 mark. Nevada crept back and closed to 58-56 with 7:09 to go. Phillips later countered with a layup at 5:45 and that would be USU's final points of the game. Three Aggie seniors played their final game in a Utah State uniform: guard Camille Brox, and forwards Brittany Hagen and Brittany Phillips. The trio were the first senior class to be at Utah State all four years, as they were part of Pebley's original recruiting class as USU reinstated women's basketball for the 2003-04 season after discontinuing the program after the 1987 season. All three leave their mark in the USU record book and a lasting foot print on the program. "It was an exciting year and I think we learned a lot. It has been cool to see where this program has gone and where it's going," Phillips said. LOSING THREE - USU loses three seniors, guard Camille Brox, and forwards Brittany Hagen and Brittany Phillips. The trio were the first senior class to be at Utah State all four years, as they were part of Pebley's original recruiting class as USU reinstated women's basketball for the 2003-04 season after discontinuing the program after the 1987 season. All three leave their mark in the USU record book and a lasting foot print on the program.
- No. 3 on USU's Career Games Played List - 109 games
Brittany Hagen
Brittany Phillips
RETURNING THREE STARTERS/10 LETTERWINNERS - USU returns three starters: junior guard Taylor Richards, junior forward Jenny Gross and sophomore guard Danyelle Snelgro, as part of 10 returning letterwinners.
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