As the San Diego State women’s basketball season approaches rapidly, the Aztecs seek to build on a great year previously.
They are coming off a 22-13 record, with a 10-8 record in the Mountain West Division, averaging 66.3 points per game. This is the second most they’ve recorded since the beginning of the Mountain West era.
Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson, entering her 12th season with the program, has led the recent success. Over the past two years, she has recorded 45 wins, including 27 home wins, the second-highest number of home victories in school history.
She looks forward to this new season, as she believes they are at a starting point that higher starting point still kind of riding off that feeling of getting into the championship game. They came back all summer and in the fall…we’re trying to get to that standard or raising it even higher,” Terry-Hutson said.
The Aztecs’ season came to an emotional ending, falling to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in the Mountain West Championship with a score of 49-66. Despite not bringing home the trophy, this was SDSU’s first appearance in the MW Championship in an entire decade.
Going into this season, the Aztecs have 11 players who are in their fourth year or later.
A couple of these players to note are senior forwards Kim Villalobos and Adryana Quezada, who made a significant impact on the program last season.
“Our overall expectation is definitely to win a championship. That’s the goal we all have, especially coming off of last year. We got to the game, we didn’t win though,” Villalobos said regarding the team’s goal for this season.
Villalobos is entering her fifth year in the program, where she has built a remarkable career as an Aztec. Last season, she started all 35 games and averaged 10.8 points.
During the 2023-24 season, she broke multiple career highs, including 24 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists, six steals, and four blocks.
Additionally, she surpassed 1,000 career points in the last game of the season.
Villalobos received several honors, including All-Mountain West Honorable Mention, and made the All-Mountain West Tournament Team. She also played for the El Salvador National Team from 2021 to 2023.
Villalobos speaks for herself and the six other players going into their last season when she says they “want to win this really bad. We’re really leaning on our support around us. The fans really do matter and it helps win games.”
Adding to the team’s strength is Quezada, who has been with the Aztecs since the 2022-2023 season, during which she utilized her redshirt year.
Before coming to SDSU, she was at the University of Texas at San Antonio for her freshman and sophomore years. In her junior year, she went to Utah State for the 2021-2022 season.
In her first season playing with the Aztecs during the 2023-24 season, Quezada made a significant impact on the team.
She started all 35 games and led the Aztecs in scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage. Quezada scored a season-high 26 points in the Mountain West semifinals against Boise State. She was named to the Mountain West All-Academic Team, the All-Mountain West Tournament Team, and the All-Mountain West Team while also being named Mountain West Player of the Week on Dec. 18, 2023.
Quezada has represented her country by playing for the Puerto Rico National Team in 2023 and 2024.
Now entering her sixth year of college basketball and third year with the Aztecs, Quezada was named to the Preseason All-Mountain West Team on Oct. 16.
After losing four graduating seniors, the Aztecs are turning toward a proven transfer class to make an immediate impact.
They gained a rebounding machine in fifth-year forward Cali Clark, who is heading to the mesa after four years at Colorado State. At CSU, she dominated the glass, putting up prolific rebounding numbers. Last season, she averaged 17.4 rebounds per 40 minutes, which was second in the nation.
Joining her is former San Diego star, junior guard Veronica Sheffey. She led the team last year with 12.2 points per game, 5.1 assists per game, a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio, 1.5 steals per game, and free throws made and attempted (98-133, .737). She earned an All-WCC Second Team selection.
Rounding out the transfers is sharpshooting guard Erin Houpt, who spent last season on the Aztecs’ bench with a knee injury. Prior to that, she was at Mercer, averaging 41.2% three-point shooting and 93% free-throw shooting. In her sophomore season, she led the country shooting 93.9% from the line, and was a Third-Team All-SoCon selection. In the year prior, she was named SoCon Freshman of the Year and helped her team to a conference championship win, and is now looking to bring that same energy to this season.
“I think we saw how close we got last year, and so we’re really working towards getting there again, and this time winning,” Houpt said. “The fan base is really important, and we want it really bad. We really want to win this year.”
In addition to the transfers is a talented freshman class.
Trinity Zamora headlines the class, after redshirting last year due to a year-ending injury before the season. Prior to that, she was named Mountain West Preseason Co-Freshman of the Year.
Guard Natalia Martinez, Zamora’s high school teammate, is also a high-end talent. In high school, she averaged an impressive 30.3 ppg in her senior year and earned back-to-back WACC Player of the Year awards.
The depth of freshman guards continues with Kaelyn Hamilton, who had a prolific high school career. She boasts many honors such as three-time District MVP, three-time All-Region, and three-time All-State honors. Hamilton also set school records in points, assists, and single-game steals.
The class is rounded out by two local recruits, forward Bailey Barnhard and guard Naomi Panganiban. They both put up prolific numbers and earned All-CIF selections. Panganiban even played on the international stage with the Philippines national team.
As the season comes upon us, the Aztecs are ranked fifth in the Mountain West and 145th in all of women’s basketball, according to NCAA Women’s Basketball Net Rankings.
The season opener will be tonight at 6 p.m. against CSU San Marcos at Viejas Arena
