USU women’s basketball: Aggies set to begin new era | USU Sports | hjnews.com

The college basketball season gets underway Monday night in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

The Aggie women host UM-Kansas City in the season opener. Tipoff is set for 6 o’clock and will be the first game for Utah State under head coach Wes Brooks. The game will be available to stream via the Mountain West Network. Radio coverage for all games will be provided on 107.7 FM.

This will be the second-ever meeting between the Aggies and Roos. USU won the first meeting last year in Kansas City, 62-60.

USU defeated Westminster, 94-70, in an exhibition contest on Oct. 25. Five players reached double figures in scoring, led by senior guard Cheyenne Stubbs with 21 points. Junior guard Mia Tarver and freshman guard Denae Skelton each finished with 14 points, while freshman Elise Livingston added 13 points. Junior guard Jamisyn Heaton chipped in 12 points.

Heaton also led the Aggies with seven rebounds, while sophomore Gracie Johnson anchored the defense, finishing with five blocks and two steals. USU shot 44 attempts from 3-point territory, which would have been a program record. The Aggies also forced 34 Griffin turnovers, which would also have been a program record according to available information.

Stubbs had one of the best scoring seasons in USU history a year ago. She finished with 482 points, which is eighth most in a season by an Aggie. Her 59 made 3-pointers was the fifth most in a season by a USU player.

The Aggies return two full-time starters from the 2023-24 team in Stubbs and senior guardIvory Finley. The Aggies also return two players with starting experience. Senior guard/forward Samiana Suguturaga started the final 13 games of last season, while senior forward Allyzee Verdan made nine total starts on the year, including each of the last seven games.

The Roos come to Logan in their third season under head coach Dionnah Jackson-Durrett, who has a record of 21-43. Kansas City went 12-20 last season, including a 3-13 mark in Summit League play.

The Roos return a pair of starters in Alayna Contreras and Zaire Harrell and eight letterwinners overall. Contreras is the leading returning scorer at 10.2 points per game and the leading 3-point shooter after shooting 33.6 percent from behind the arc last season. Timas Ugass is the leading returning rebounder (4.7 per game) while Lisa Thomas is the leading returner for assists (2.6). As a team last year, the Roos scored 64.5 points per game but allowed 66.0 points.

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