On Monday, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament, San Diego State women’s basketball team took on New Mexico and won 67-56 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
San Diego State went right to work, going on a 7-0 start led by Jada Lewis and Adryana Quezada. Just three quick minutes into the match, the Aztecs went up 13-1 over the Lobos.
New Mexico’s first field goal didn’t come until halfway through the first quarter. Headed into the first media timeout, four of five starters on SDSU had scored a basket.
“We’re just playing good basketball right now. (We’re) just locked in. I think there was a little bit of an advantage for us playing yesterday,” said head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson.
In a game of runs, New Mexico had their own 8-0 toward the end of the first frame, but a 3-pointer by Mia Davis stopped the momentum. After the first quarter, the Aztecs maintained a 5-point lead, 18-13.
A 3-pointer by Sarah Barcello put SDSU’s lead back up to 6. Through five minutes in the second quarter, San Diego State was shooting 50% on field goals and 40% from the 3-point line. The Lobos weren’t as efficient, 45% from the field and 0-of-6 on 3-point attempts.
Quezada’s floater gave her 10 points in the game, the first double-digit scorer for the Aztecs. Halftime saw a 9-point lead for SDSU, 39-28.
Barcello made her third 3-pointer of the game to start the second half, which also gave the Aztecs their largest lead at that point, up 14 points.
Guard Nyah Wilson responded for the Lobos with an and-one over Abby Prohaska, sinking the bucket at the free-throw line. This sparked a 7-0 run by New Mexico, cutting the Aztecs lead to 42-35.
Lewis joined Quezada in double-digit scoring after knocking down a step-back 3-pointer, which capped off an SDSU 7-0 run of their own, heading into the fourth quarter up 49-35.
Forward Paula Reus made the first 3-pointer of the game for New Mexico on their 11th attempt, 32 minutes into the game.
Up 51-41 with eight minutes left to play, Jazlen Green made the layup plus the foul, then hit the free throw to put SDSU’s lead back up to 13.
Prohaska was called for an offensive foul, fouling out with under six minutes left to play. Prohaska had been SDSU’s most important ball handler, especially with New Mexico using a full-court press.
Meghan Fiso hit a big 3-pointer to put the Aztecs lead back above double-digits, up 59-47 with the clock ticking. Wilson came down and hit a New Mexico 3-pointer. Lewis bit back, both teams traded shots for a few possessions, but time favored the Aztecs.
The buzzer sounded and the Aztecs, with the win 67-56, advanced to the semifinals, and will face No. 6 seeded Boise State.
Both Lewis and Quezada led in scoring, 14 points each, and Kim Villalobos put in 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
“I think my teammates boxing out made it really easy for me to come in and grab the rebounds,” Villalobos said. “One of our coaches said rebounding was going to win us this game.”
Wilson had 22 points on 7-of-16 shooting for New Mexico. Their overall shooting from the 3-pointer was 3-of-17.
“We did limit the 3’s, and that was key, we did a really good job of taking that away,” Terry-Hutson said. “We knew they were hard to guard, but we had to limit those threes.”
Tip-off for today’s game is 7:30 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“Being poised, that was our mantra,” Villalobos said. “We want to win, we packed for Wednesday, so we’re excited.”
