Despite leading at halftime, the Aztecs lost to No. 15 UCLA last friday
By Eli Baldrige, Staff Writer
On Friday, the San Diego State women’s basketball team played in a game where points were hard to come by.
“In a game like this, five points was like the Grand Canyon,” head coach Beth Burns said after falling to No. 15 UCLA 55-48 on Friday.
The game was sloppy at times, but consistently close and intense.
SDSU (0-1) started the game shaky and turned the ball over three straight times in the first two minutes. But after a couple baskets from freshman guard Melissa Sweat, the Aztecs settled down and tightened up their defense on the Bruins.
“No one hung their heads after the first two minutes,” Burns said. “Instead, they went harder.”
SDSU was able to pull away in the first half when it went on a 9-0 run to take a 25-16 lead with three minutes remaining. After struggling to find her shot at the start of the game, sophomore guard Courtney Clements started connecting on her attempts as the Aztecs closed out the half. She finished the game leading all scorers with 19 points.
“I really liked Clements’ effort,” Burns said. “She didn’t take a bad shot. That was her first night out in a long time and she’s going to be a great player for us.”
SDSU went into halftime with a 32-24 lead.
The Aztecs started the second half like they started the game and didn’t make a basket until six minutes in. Missed lay-ups plagued SDSU all night as it shot just 31 percent from the field.
UCLA proved stronger down the stretch, forcing fouls and connecting on big shots. Bruin forward Jasmine Dixon corralled crucial rebounds and pushed UCLA to victory off her 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bruin defense full-court pressed the Aztecs for much of the game. SDSU had a difficult time setting up its offense and rarely got a clean pass down to the post, forcing the guards to take a lot of outside shots.
“They made it really difficult for us to catch the ball in the paint,” Burns said.
Burns thought her team was well prepared, but in the end UCLA was too much.
“I thought we knew exactly what we were going to face,” she said. “But saying it and getting it done are two different things.”
