In heartbreaking fashion, San Diego State women’s basketball (15-16, 8-10 Mountain West) lost to the second seed New Mexico (24-8, 14-4) on a last-second offensive foul call. Despite the loss, the Aztecs have a lot to be proud of after nearly upsetting the No. 2 seed.
The 63-60 loss by the Aztecs marks the second time this year they lost to New Mexico by three points. The lead swayed back and forth from team to team throughout the game, resulting in neither team being able to gain complete control over the other. The lead changed nine times and the game was tied six different times.
Down the stretch of the fourth quarter, the Aztecs were trailing, but they were holding on and making big shots so that the game would not get out of hand. In hindsight, the Aztecs missed some clutch free throws and shots that could have given them the advantage in the game.
With 13 seconds left in the game, following a timeout, the Aztecs only trailed by one point, and senior Sophia Ramos had the ball. Following a good move to get her to the basket, Ramos used her shoulder to create separation and hit a floater to nearly win the game. However, the referees ruled her push off an offensive foul and bailed out the Lobos who seemed as if they were going to lose the game.
“To see that it could be over, you know there is a COVID year so there are a lot of decisions to be made,” Ramos emotionally said reflecting on her time spent with SDSU. “It’s been the best four years either of us could ask for, we have a great athletic director who puts a lot of support into us. It’s been a great four years.”
On the night, Ramos scored 18 points alongside senior Mercedes Staples who scored 12 points and junior Mallory Adams who scored 11. Sophomore Kim Villalobos provided eight points coming off the bench and freshman starting point guard Asia Avinger scored seven points.
Defensively, the Scarlet and Black played well, causing the No. 2 seed to be an inefficient 35.6% from the field. Despite their mistakes, the Aztecs played an overall good game against a good team but were just not able to finish the job.
“This hurts because I thought we played a good defensive game,” head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said when asked about her team’s efforts. “We got stops when we needed to, but I’m proud of our girls for putting us in a position to win the game. We had control of it, just didn’t bounce our way, but I was really proud of the fight.”
Moving forward, the Aztecs’ potential is through the roof for next season. Even though their tournament run was short, it was definitely impressive and will be interesting to see what they can accomplish next year. Due to COVID-19, it is not completely certain, but some of the Aztec seniors may gain another year of eligibility and be able to contribute to the team next year.
Nonetheless, the Aztecs’ future is in good hands with promising underclassmen like Avinger, Villalobos, and sophomore Meghan Fiso. As the weeks go by, it will be interesting to see what will happen with this year’s seniors and it will be even more interesting to see how the Scarlet and Black will improve upon their shortcomings this season.
