WBB Recap: Utah State Topples Omaha In Final Frame

LOGAN – With their first win of the season, the Aggies proved that they could win messy, hard-fought games. With their second, a come-from-behind 77-69 victory over Omaha, they proved that they have more than one way to do it.

“Really gritty win for our team,” head coach Wes Brooks said.  “(I’m) proud of our team… Sometimes my expectations are so high and I want it all now, but I have to remember, this is the first time that this team has really played together and we're still a work in progress.

"It's still early in the season. But when you find a way to win games, it's always a good thing because we’d all rather learn through winning than losing. We've been on the opposite of that here at Aggie Nation for a long time. So now we're trying to flip that… A win like this will help us come conference play.”

Sophomore guard Elise Livingston, who played a huge role in Utah State’s victory, shared a similar sentiment.

“I thought we played really well and it was good to get the win even through a lot of adversity… I think it's awesome that we can come together in the close games and win, but I also think we need to work on starting better so we don't necessarily get in those situations. I think if we continue to work on that, it will help us a lot.”

With shades of last year’s overtime loss, the teams were tied at 69 inside two minutes. That’s when Livingston took over. She had just hit a mid-range jumper to put the Aggies up by three – a huge relief for a team that was down three in the opening seconds of the quarter – but Omaha’s Sarai Estupinan hit a three of her own to knot the game for the third time in the final frame.

Livingston shrugged it off. Assisted by Marina Asensio, Livingston rose and knocked down a three. At the other end, Rachel Wilson got the steal, Karyn Sanford fed Livingston, and the hometown kid buried another triple to propel the Aggies to a six-point lead and beyond. The Mavericks were all but forced to call a timeout, but it didn’t accomplish anything beyond staving off the fate that Livingston had made inevitable. They came out of the timeout with 69 points on the scoreboard and 37 seconds on the clock, and only one of those figures changed. Utah State added two more points for good measure.

Livingston’s performance was quite literally a showstopper, but her late-game heroics were only a culmination of less visible heavy lifting done by the team and Livingston herself.

To get there, the Mavericks got the jump on the Aggies with a 3-0 start that turned into a 16-8 game with three minutes left in the first quarter. To remedy that deficit, the Aggies prescribed themselves an 11-0 run capped off by a Livingston three-pointer early in the second period to take their first (and only) lead of the half.

Omaha stopped the Aggies in their tracks with a three of their own and responded with an even bigger deficit than before, handing Utah State a nine-point game at 35-26 with 1:44 left in the half. This time the Aggies could only chip away at the deficit. Sanford hit a timely three in an immediate response, and just before the half ended, Aaliyah Gayles netted two clutch free throws to make it a manageable four-point game at the break, 35-31.

In the second half, the Mavericks pushed back to seven three times, then to nine, then things slowly started to turn. For the second time in the game, Sanford hit a timely three to turn a nine-point game into a six-point game. After a jumper and a layup from Livingston and a three from Asensio, the Aggies were down four, but nearly slipped when back-to-back Maverick buckets had the Aggies staring down an eight-point game with under three minutes to play in the third.

Gayles kept Utah State on its feet with a layup and two free throws, and Asensio hit a three to get within one. The Mavericks hit a free throw, and the Aggies finally saw the deficit disappear when Wilson converted a layup to tie the game at 54 with 58 seconds left. Omaha hit one free throw to end the frame with a 55-54 advantage.

Utah State took its first lead of the half when Gayles hit a three at the 8:49 mark in the final frame, but it quickly dissipated, and the teams moved in lockstep for most of the stanza. The Aggies started to build some momentum with freshman Bella Cosme hitting a triple to go up three, 65-62, and Sanford responded to a free throw with a layup to go up four, but it didn’t stick. The Aggies watched the lead fall to one, 67-66, which is when Livingston hit her jumper to go up three. That, of course, led to a tie game and Livingston’s back-to-back threes to catalyze the victory.

For her part, Livingston also had a journey to her game-winning stretch. After shifting from the starting lineup to a reserve role, Livingston had been scoreless on the season. She stepped in and dropped 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting with a 3-for-5 clip from deep – all three of which were much-needed, clutch buckets. She also had two rebounds and a steal.

“I just continue to work as hard as I can, and it was just my time today. I thought we all played really well at the end, and I was just really proud of us,” Livingston said.

“I’m really proud of Elise. She’s putting so much work in,” Brooks said. “Six for eight, three for five,  that's what we need from her… She got going at the end, and that’s what we need.

"She did it last year for us. She’s gotten better, and she does it this year. She’ll continue to grow in the system, but she gave us what we need.”

This performance should boost Livingston’s confidence as she takes on her new role, but also justifies a lot of confidence in the team. The Aggies only have two wins over two teams that now combine for a 1-8 record, but they are operating with a lot of depth and versatility. While the 1-4 Mavericks aren’t the highest level of competition, having a player who can come off the bench and drop 15, including back-to-back daggers with the weight of the game on her shoulders, is a luxury plenty of teams don’t have.

To close out the game, the Aggies were operating without two of their stars, who were sidelined with five fouls: Gayles, who displayed a similar clutch streak in Utah State’s win over CSUB, and Asensio. Both still contributed their fair share before handing the reins to Livingston in crunch time.

“We’re only as strong as our weakest link," Brooks said. "We are a team. A team. We have some stars. But teams win, and we want to be the best team, because at the end of the year, the best team wins the championship. Not the best stars, the best team. And so we emphasize team. Together, everybody achieves more, and I’m really, really proud of the group effort today.”

Gayles still ended up with 16 points, a team high, plus four rebounds, an assist, two steals and a block. Asensio had 13 points, two rebounds and four assists. Sanford had 11 points, five rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block. With Gayles, Asensio, and Sanford continuing to show out in the starting unit, Livingston’s performance gets even scarier.

Jamisyn Heaton got the nod in the starting five and had a quiet but effective game. She added two points, two rebounds and a block in eight minutes. Sophie Sene rounded out the starting five and had seven points, four rebounds and an assist. Wilson led the bench unit in scoring in Utah State’s first two games, and if it weren’t for Livingston’s 15 points, she would have done so again. She was the second-leading scorer off the bench and is becoming a very reliable force in that role. She posted five points, seven rebounds and a steal to bring her season averages to 6.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.  

The Aggies are growing more and more reliable from the free-throw line, developing a weapon they haven’t had before. Last year, they shot 69.3 percent from the stripe, and after a 6-of-14 showing to open the season, the Aggies have started to get on track. In their past two games, they are a combined 32-of-43 shooting at the line, or 74.4 percent. Their 13-of-21 performance from the stripe against Omaha still leaves room for improvement, but they converted when they needed to.

“We didn't shoot how I want to shoot today, but we made clutch free throws, and that's huge,” Brooks said.