Utah State women’s basketball capped its brief preseason with a 71-40 victory over San Francisco State on Thursday, simultaneously showcasing the new-look team under second-year head coach Wes Brooks to Cache Valley-based fans for the first time this fall. The 31-point win marked the largest margin of victory, exhibition or otherwise, since 2021 when the Aggies defeated Fort Lewis College 90-43.
Thursday’s game made for what could be a solid preview of what this year’s team under Brooks will be like — sloppy at times, but full of potential. The sloppy part of Utah State’s performance came early as the team started the evening shooting 3-of-13 from the field and only held a 16-13 lead at the end of the first quarter against a division two Gators team. The guard duo of Marina Asensio and Aaliyah Gayles accounted for every one of those 16 Aggie points (and would end the evening with 12 and 16 points, respectively).
“I think everybody was just a little nervous, you know, how to butterfly is in their stomach,” Gayles said. “But then again, like Coach (Brooks) says, we practice how we play. So every time we got to practice, we got to come out fast.”
In the second quarter, the Aggies began to pull away a bit more, out-scoring San Francisco State 18-9 in the second quarter for a 34-22 advantage heading into halftime. Other USU players began to get in on the scoring as the team shot a better, though still low, 37.5% from the field in the second period.
Then, finally, the third quarter saw the most efficient scoring of the game. Utah State shot an even 50% from the field and combined that offense with the best defensive effort of the game. San Francisco State scored once the entire third quarter, a 3-pointer roughly halfway through. And that scoring drought continued into the fourth quarter as the Aggies held the Gators to three points across an 11-minute span. In that time, Utah State went from up 34-22 to a lead of 58-25.
Utah State held San Francisco State to a shooting percentage of 25.5% on the night, but just as impactful as the poor field goal percentage from its opponents was the Aggies forcing 34 turnovers. That ended up becoming 33 points off turnovers for USU. Defense overall was something Brooks was very pleased with, saying he thought “the defense was excellent.”
The combination of defense and some scoring burst showed the potential of this Aggies team, but there were two aspects of the game that Brooks repeatedly harped on in the post-game media press conference. Utah State turned the ball over 25 times themselves. And while 10 of those came in the fourth quarter with the game winding down and heading to “garbage time,” the 15 in the three quarters prior were not excusable to Brooks. Likewise, a lack of efficiency around the rim was a consistent issue throughout the game, with the Aggies shooting 20 of 36 on layups throughout the game.
“You got to make layups and you can’t turn the ball over like that. And so that’s something we got to clean up before we get to Utah,” Brooks said. “If the difference (from last year) is going to do this good, which we’re happy with, if we can make layups and cut that turnover (number) in half with the way we’re playing at pace it’s going to be really well.”
That wasn’t the only preseason contest played by USU in October. The Aggies also made a trip to Moraga, California to take on Saint Mary’s in a closed-door scrimmage and came away with a 73-64 win over the Gaels. In that game, Gayles and Asensio were also the leading scorers, Gayles putting up 17 and Asensio netting 12.
Gayles, in particular, has very much looked the part of her once-heralded potential. The former five-star recruit has scored 33 points on 11 of 23 shooting in the two preseason games and has also grabbed 14 total rebounds. She’s become the fuel of the high-paced Aggie offense under Brooks. It’s also a fantastic trend for her personally with this being the first volume minutes she’s had in collegiate basketball since she was shot 14 times in a 2022 incident and had to spend the next season recovering in a now-successful attempt to return to basketball.
“If you love basketball, it’s going to come to you easy. For me, you know, it came, I had a long journey, but it feels good,” Gayles said. “It’s a lot of responsibility, just knowing that you’ve got to play a lot of minutes and have a lot of things to do on the court for a long period of time. But I feel like it’s easy. I feel like it’s something, it’s like a moment where you just need to refresh.”
Several other players have acquitted themselves nicely so far in the preseason. Senior wing Karyn Sanford has posted the best on-court plus-minus of any player in the two games, being a team-best +21 in the scrimmage against Saint Mary’s and an also-team-best +23 in the win over San Francisco State. The 6-foot wing has showcased great versatility, combining for 17 points, five rebounds, seven assists and two blocks in the pair of preseason exhibitions. Brooks referred to Sanford as the “polite version of Draymond Green.”
“Karyn Sanford is a jewel.” Brooks said. “I wish I had more time with her because she’s finally in a system that fits her. And like that’s what we tell kids, you got to go where you fit, and she fits us perfectly.”
Asensio had a bounce-back game in shooting efficiency compared to her numbers against Saint Mary’s. She was just 2-for-9 in the scrimmage against the Gaels (though still had 12 points thanks to going 7-of-10 at the free-throw line and also had six steals) but was 4-of-8 from the field against the Gators, being responsible for seven of the first nine Aggie points on Thursday.
Utah State’s season begins this upcoming Friday with a home game against Utah. It’ll be the first time the Utes visit Logan since 2017. Utah has won 93 games over the past four seasons
