LOGAN — Utah State's bench led the Aggies to a 63-45 win over Utah Valley in women's basketball action to end the decade on New Year's Eve Thursday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
The Aggie reserves out-scored the Wolverines' bench, 38-0, led by junior guard LaCale Pringle-Buchanan tying her career-high with 14 points, marking the third time this season that she has matched her high score. Fellow freshman guard Devyn Christensen netted a new career-high with 12 points, smashing her previous career best of three points with free throws alone, making all six of her attempts. Nine different USU players scored, including freshman guard Pualei Furtado, who netted her first two-point field goal as a, Aggie, compared to just four different UVU players.
The win improved USU to 7-5 on the season. USU has won three in a row and four in its last five, which improves the team's record to 5-1 at home. UVU dropped its seventh straight loss, falling to 3-12 overall. With the victory, the Aggies snapped a three-game losing streak to the Wolverines and evened the series at 3-3.
Utah State also improved to 4-1 against in-state opponents, beating Utah Valley, Utah, Weber State and Southern Utah, with the lone loss going to BYU.
Pringle-Buchanan and Christensen were joined in double digits by starters junior guard Amber White and senior center Lydia Whitehead with 10 points each, as the bench out-scored the starters 38-25. Whitehead pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds to register her second double-double in a row and third of the season along with sixth of her career. Whitehead also had a season high and tied her career best with four blocked shots, half of the Aggies' eight on the night.
Utah Valley was led by Erika Newbold's career-high 19 points and nine rebounds, while Blake Reynolds added 10 points. Asumi Nakayama and Jenna Johnson were the only other Wolverines to score, tallying eight points each.
The Aggies shot 43.1 percent (22-of-51) from the field, hitting 6-of-16 from three-point range, as Pringle-Buchanan and Christensen were both 2-of-2 behind the arc. Utah State was also 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) at the free throw line.
Utah Valley shot 15-of-45 (33.3 percent), including 2-of-5 (40.0 percent) behind the arc, and the Wolverines were 13-of-22 (59.1 percent) at the charity stripe.
After being down 7-6 in the early minutes, a 3-pointer by Pringle-Buchanan and jumper from freshman forward Banna Diop capped a 13-1 Aggie run and gave USU a 19-8 lead at the 11:41 mark. After a layup by Reynolds pulled UVU to 19-10 with 11:17 on the clock, both teams struggled scoring, going over four minutes without a point as Newbold broke the slump with a layup at the 6:59 mark.
A few minutes later, another layup by Newbold capped six unanswered points by the Wolverines to close to 23-18 with 3:24 to go. On the Aggies' ensuing possession, Christensen righted the ship for USU with a long 3-pointer from the right wing for a 26-18 Aggie lead and the USU defense never let UVU any closer than five points from there on out.
Utah State had a 29-23 lead at halftime, but opened the second stanza with six-straight points to stretch its lead to 12 at 35-23 with 17:38. The Aggie advantage reached its largest of the night at 18 points for the first time at 55-37 with 4:20 on the clock after a 3-pointer and later a free-throw from junior forward Stacey Howard.
USU out-rebounded UVU, 37-29, as junior guard Alice Coddington pulled down six boards despite not scoring for the first time this season. The Aggies close out non-conference play against UNLV on Saturday, Jan. 2 at 2 p.m.