Wes Brooks’ rebuild of the Utah State women’s basketball program is making clear progress, even if the overall record still doesn’t look the way Brooks or Aggie fans ultimately want it to be. Following a 74-61 win over San Jose State on Wednesday, this year’s team became the first Lady Aggies squad to win six games before the end of December since the 2016-17 season. It’s a stat that is both sobering in the implication for what’s happened in the eight-year interlude, yet encouraging in how it indicates progress.
“That’s just crazy to me,” Aggies’ forward Jamisyn Heaton said of that stat. “But it feels good to be a part of a team like that. And this team is so close. It’s so different. I love each and every single one of these girls. So it’s just been a fun year. And I’m excited to see what else we can prove this year.”
“We are moving in the right direction,” head coach Wes Brooks said. “I wish we had eight or nine [wins]. We want to start being in postseason consideration.”
Utah State women’s basketball Wes Brooks after his team’s New Year’s Eve win over San Jose State. pic.twitter.com/BiPSYOsmn8
— Jason Walker (@jwalker_sports) December 31, 2025
Utah State forward Jamisyn Heaton spoke with the media after USU’s win over San Jose State. She set season highs in points (19) and rebounds (10) and also recently got engaged so congratulations are in order on multiple fronts. pic.twitter.com/k8B6HUwTq6
— Jason Walker (@jwalker_sports) December 31, 2025
Utah State currently owns an even 6-6 overall record as the turn of the calendar year, and the team is aiming for the first non-last place finish in Mountain West play. And the 2-1 mark the Aggies have through three games of conference play are a decent indication they’ll accomplish that as it already nearly matches the total conference wins from last season (3-15).
The win on New Year’s Eve continued the slowly incrementing success of the Aggies, especially given the circumstances. On Dec. 20, Utah State lost its leading scorer, Aaliyah Gayles to a knee injury. The former USC Trojan and five-star recruit was showing very much why she was a high-profile recruit in averaging 13.5 points per game and USU’s offense very clearly ran through Gayles. Her injury derailed Utah State’s game against Colorado State, a contest that might have resulted in a W rather than the 55-46 defeat the Aggies ultimately took. They led 12-2 after the first seven minutes of the game and were in solid control before the junior guard had to be helped off the court.
Luckily, the injury doesn’t appear to be severe or season-ending. Utah State publicly released a general status for Gayles, stating she is “week-to-week.” That can be interpreted to mean a wide range of things, but at the very least, it should be expected that Gayles will not be returning to the court within the next few games at minimum given the Aggies will be on a road trip to Nevada and won’t be back in Logan until after the end of the first full week of January.
In their first occasion to show who they are without Gayles, the Aggies very much showed they’re not a team led by just one player. With a little more time to digest not having Gayles in the lineup, players readily stepped into higher volume shooting roles and found their rhythm. Three different Utah State players had their best day of the year, including Heaton, Sophie Sene and Karyn Sanford.
Both Heaton and Sene recorded double-doubles, marking the first time since 2022 the Aggies have had two players accomplish that feat in the same game. Each player scored 19 points with Sene grabbing 13 rebounds and Heaton getting 10. The 19 points and 10/13 rebounds Heaton and Sene had marked new season highs for both players. Sanford also had a season high in points, netting 16 to go with an also-season-high seven rebounds.
“Obviously, there are plays that we have for Aaliyah. There are special plays that we have for Aaliyah to get her going,” Brooks said. “But pretty much our offense is plug and play, and we’ve been proud ourselves from being a positionless basketball team. And so with that, we can put people in different spots, and they just got to be ready to respond and step up.
