San Diego State Aztecs women’s basketball loses their sixth game of the season against Wyoming, 72-58 at the Arena-Auditorium on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
Both the Aztecs (11-6, 2-2 Mountain West) and the Cowgirls (9-6, 4-0 Mountain West) were looking to continue their stay in the win column, with the latter prevailing.
Aztecs won the tipoff, and the game was afoot.
SDSU rolled out with man-to-man defense, with Wyoming matching. The first points of the game was scored by Wyoming’s Malene Pedersen, who went to the bucket for a layup.
The Aztecs were scoreless until 6:20 in the first, broken by a 3-pointer by Khylee Pepe.
Wyoming’s steady offense gave them the lead 18-14 at the end of the opening frame. The Aztecs remained in striking distance behind Pepe’s 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting.
The start of the second quarter looked similar to the first, with a quick 3-pointer by guard Maren McKenna to give Wyoming a 7-point lead.
The Aztecs responded with their own 3-pointer by Mia Davis. This sparked a 7-0 run, leading to a tie game 21-all after a layup by Adryana Quezada.
Both offenses were flowing, but it was Wyoming’s defense that kept their lead.
They went on a 9-2 run, shutting down anything the Aztecs gave them, while slowly breaking down SDSU’s defense.
Eventually, the Aztecs got a few timely points from Kim Villalobos and Quezada.
It was only enough to stop the barrage of Wyoming scoring. Entering halftime, the Aztecs were down 39-28 on a 6-0 run from the Cowgirls.
The third quarter was immediately welcomed by an Aztec jumper by Quezada. Sarah Barcello’s layup plus the made free throw after the foul brought SDSU within 10, still down 42-35.
A Jada Lewis three-pointer cut the lead to 4. Another bucket by Quezada, all in all, a 10-0 run by the Aztecs, only ended with a layup by forward Marta Savic for the Cowgirls.
It was a tale of two sides, with much of the Aztecs offense coming from Pepe, Lewis and Quezada while the Cowgirls had players score from all directions.
Wyoming’s McKenna led the way, making a wide-open layup to put the lead back to 7.
Lewis responded with her own layup for SDSU. Quezada made a quick layup at the end of the third quarter to give her 14 points, but the Aztecs were still down heading into the final quarter, 51-48.
With the Aztecs outscoring the Cowgirls 20-12, the pressure was on Wyoming to keep their lead in the fourth quarter.
Right out of the gate, forward Tess Barnes hit a 3-pointer to put Wyoming ahead 54-48. Barnes then got a block on Pepe —her fourth of the game.
It was a 7-0 run by Wyoming, only stopped by free throws for Quezada, to which she made both.
Wyoming kept up their scoring, as Barnes hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game, giving them the largest lead of the night at 13. It became 15 after a jumper by center Allyson Fertig. The Aztecs had not scored in over 3 minutes.
Down the stretch, the Aztecs tried their best to get back in the game, but Wyoming pulled away.
The scoring drought continued until the end of the game, as it was over 5 minutes until the Aztecs scored thanks to a 3-pointer by Quezada.
With under 2 minutes left, Wyoming led SDSU 70-53 with an efficient fourth-quarter performance by Barnes, who made 5 three-pointers for the game.
The Cowgirls were able to dribble out at the buzzer, and the Aztecs lost 72-55.
It was a 21-7 blowout fourth quarter for Wyoming, remaining undefeated in conference play. It was the Aztecs offensive struggles, shooting 38% compared to the Cowgirls 52% from the field.
Scoring was led by Barnes’ 17 points with 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. She also grabbed 9 rebounds and finished with 4 blocks. Guard Emily Mellema put in 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while Fertig put up a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
For the Aztecs, Quezada led the entire game with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and snagged 3 rebounds. Barcello played a team-high 32 minutes and had 3 points, while also getting a team-high 6 rebounds.
The Aztecs stay on the road to play Boise State, on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m.
