To finish off the 2023-2024 regular season, San Diego State women’s basketball overcame a close victory against conference rival, the University of Wyoming, to capitalize senior night on March 5.
The Aztecs celebrated Jada Lewis, who passed 1,000 points in their collegiate time. Additionally, SDSU celebrated Adryana Quezada for 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
After, it was time to recognize the four seniors who will be graduating from SDSU. Those four seniors were Sarah Barcello, Abby Prohaska, Emaya Trahan and Lewis, who all walked the court with family and friends.
Kim Villalobos expressed her emotions when talking about this year’s seniors class.
“It’s a long season but it goes by really fast when you’re seeing everybody every day,” Villalobos said. “It’s really sad today to see them and reflect on everything that they’ve helped us with. I wish them well in everything they do, but also going to miss them here so is everybody.”
At the start of tipoff, the Cowgirls took control of the game. In the first quarter, the Cowgirls had 15 points and the Aztecs had 10. By the end of the second quarter, the Aztecs were still down 25-18. At the end of the third, the Cowgirls were up 43, with the Aztecs trailing behind 10 points with 33.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Aztecs dominated. SDSU took the lead with 3:13 left of the game when Villalobos went for a layup, pushing the Scarlet and Black one point ahead of the Cowgirls, 51-50.
With elevated offense and tight defense in the fourth quarter, the Aztecs scored 25 points in the fourth quarter while holding the Cowgirls to only 12 points.
Villalobos was the player of the game, scoring a career-high 24 points. Seventeen of those points were all scored in the fourth quarter, and she also had six rebounds, four steals and one block.
“It felt really, good, especially on senior night,” Villalobos said. “We already had so much energy before the game and so much momentum during that (fourth) quarter. It feels really good that my teammates got me the ball, so definitely shout out to them and just being able to execute and we got the dub.”
Coach Stacie Terry-Hutson noted that defense was a great takeaway against Wyoming.
“We played a very good defensive game, and we were able to stay close enough to get us an opportunity in the fourth quarter to make a play for the victory,” Terry-Hutson said. “ (I’m) really proud of our defense. I thought that was our best defensive effort of this season.”
Terry-Hutson also spoke about the dynamic of this year’s team and the challenges that they faced.
“This is a very special team because of what we’ve gone through to get to this point,” Terry-Hutson said. “This one’s really special because I’ve asked a lot of kids to play out of position.”
Besides the win, the Aztecs announced that Villalobos and Quezada are returning for next season.
“I’m excited for them because I want to put them in a situation where they can have the best basketball experience,” Terry-Hutson said. “We’re going to put pieces around them and my hope for them and the rest of the team coming back is that we can get a championship.
Villalobos shared her goal for next season in hopes of continuing to win.
“Always winning more games, and keep having fun when we’re winning those games,” Villalobos said. “Keep maintaining that energy in the locker room (and) on the floor because it transfers over.”
The Aztecs are tied for fourth place in the Mountain West Conference with Colorado State, Boise State and the University of Nevada. SDSU will be considered the seventh seed with 19-12 overall this season.
The Aztecs will head to Las Vegas, where they will play against 10th-seed San Jose State for the Mountain West Tournament on Sunday, March 10.
The Scarlet and Black will play at 4:30 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“We got to be consistent with our effort defensively and we got to find a way to score the ball easier,” Terry-Hutson said. “We got to score in transition, we need to take care of the basketball, rebound and defend. That will give us a good chance.”
