Utah State Aggies women's basketball

Utah State Aggies women's basketball
2023–24 Utah State Aggies women's basketball team
University	Utah State University
Head coach	Wesley Brooks (1st season)
Conference	Mountain West
Location	Logan, Utah
Arena	Smith Spectrum (Capacity: 10,270)
Nickname	Aggies
Student section	The Hurd
Colors	Navy blue, white, and pewter gray [1]
Uniforms
Home Away Alternate
AIAW tournament appearances
1972, 1973, 1974, 1975

The Utah State Aggies are a Division I women's college basketball team that plays in the Mountain West Conference, representing Utah State University. They play their home games at the Smith Spectrum. ^[2]

History

The Aggies started play in 1972. They made the AIAW First Round in their first three years and the regionals in 1982, but they won only 18 games in the last five years of the program's first run in basketball. The women's team was shuttered from 1988 to 2002. Utah State played in the Intermountain Athletic Conference from 1973 to 1982, played as an Independent from 1982 to 1984, the High Country Athletic Conference from 1984 to 1987, the Big West Conference from 2003 to 2005, and the Western Athletic Conference from 2006 to 2013 before joining the Mountain West Conference in 2014.

The Aggies have made appearances in the WNIT in 2011 and 2012, as well as the three appearances in WBI tournaments. ^[3] The Aggies have never won a conference title, and as a result have never qualified for the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

In November 2019, Jerry Finkbeiner, in his eight season as head coach of the Aggies, stepped down due to medical reasons. His three postseason tournament appearances are the most among Aggies head coaches all-time. ^[4]

In March 2020, Southeastern Louisiana alum Kayla Ard was named as head coach. Under Ard, the Aggies amassed four consecutive losing seasons, including 26 losses in 2022–23, which is tied for the most losses by any Utah State women's basketball team in program history. ^[5] Ard herself announced she was fired during the press conference of the 2024 Mountain West tournament game, following another 25-loss season.

Season	Record	Conference Record	Coach
1972–73	17–3	n/a	Fern Gardner
1973–74	12–2	8–0	Fern Gardner
1974–75	14–6	10–3	Fern Gardner
1975–76	12–9	10–3	Fern Gardner
1976–77	12–12	9–4	Marilyn Weiss
1977–78	9–14	8–5	Marilyn Weiss
1978–79	14–10	5–8	Cindy Perkins
1979–80	13–15	5–5	Cindy Perkins
1980–81	12–19	5–5	Cindy Perkins
1981–82	12–20	6–4	Cindy Perkins
1982–83	3–22	n/a	Karen Logan
1983–84	2–23	n/a	Karen Logan
1984–85	9–19	3–9	Bob Corbin
1985–86	3 - 25	0–12	Bob Corbin
1986–87	1–26	0–12	Lloydene Searle
2003–04	5–22	5–13 (10th)	Raegan Pebley
2004–05	14–14	9–9 (6th)	Raegan Pebley
2005–06	3–24	2–14 (9th)	Raegan Pebley
2006–07	11–18	7–9 (6th)	Raegan Pebley
2007–08	9–20	5–11 (7th)	Raegan Pebley
2008–09	16–15	9–7 (5th)	Raegan Pebley
2009–10	13–17	5–11 (7th)	Raegan Pebley
2010–11	18–15	10–6 (3rd)	Raegan Pebley
2011–12	21–10	11–3 (2nd)	Raegan Pebley
2012–13	18–14	14–4 (2nd)	Jerry Finkbeiner
2013–14	15–16	8–10 (8th)	Jerry Finkbeiner
2014–15	8–23	5–13 (10th)	Jerry Finkbeiner
2015–16	14–17	8–10 (7th)	Jerry Finkbeiner
2016–17	17–15	9–9 (6th)	Jerry Finkbeiner
2017–18	7–23	5–13 (T-8th)	Jerry Finkbeiner
2018–19	17–16	10–9 (T-5th)	Jerry Finkbeiner
2019–20	8–23	2–16 (11th)	Ben Finkbeiner (interim)
2020–21	4–20	2–16 (10th)	Kayla Ard
2021–22	11–19	5–13 (9th)	Kayla Ard
2022–23	4–26	1–17 (11th)	Kayla Ard

Postseason

WNIT

The Aggies have appeared in two WNIT tournaments. Their combined record is 1–2.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
2011	––––	First Round Second Round	Arizona BYU	W 103–95 L 102–63
2012	––––	First Round	Utah	L 69–58

WBI

The Aggies have appeared in three Women's Basketball Invitational tournaments. Their combined record is 1–3.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
2013	#3	First Round	South Dakota	L 77–69
2017	––––	First Round	Idaho	L 64–59
2019	––––	First Round Quarterfinals	UC Riverside North Texas	W 68–60 L 56–54

AIAW Division I

The Aggies made four appearances in the AIAW National Division I basketball tournament, with a combined record of 1–8.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1972	First Round Consolation First Round Consolation Second Round	West Chester State Washington State Queens (NY)	L, 45–79 W, 40–37 L, 57–65
1973	First Round Consolation First Round	Stephen F. Austin UC Riverside	L, 48–53 L, 41–47
1974	First Round Consolation First Round	William Penn Illinois State	L, 34–54 L, 46–74
1975	First Round Consolation First Round	Tennessee Tech Federal City	L, 45–91 L, 34–89

References

1. "Utah State University Visual Identity Guide" (PDF). Retrieved September 6, 2022.
2. "utahstateaggies.com – Utah State Official Athletic Site – Women's Basketball". www.utahstateaggies.com.
3. "Utah State 2021–22 Women's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Utah State University . Retrieved May 6, 2022.
4. "Jerry Finkbeiner steps down as Utah State's women's basketball coach due to health issue". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
5. Kayla Ard Named Utah State Head Women's Basketball Coach

External links

• Official website