San Diego State women’s basketball (17-9, 6-7) lost their second game in a row on Wednesday night, failing to beat a talented UNLV team (20-5, 12-1).
Despite coming off a loss, SDSU had reason to be confident entering the matchup. The Aztecs had beaten UNLV a couple of weeks prior in a 59-58 thriller, but this time around the Rebels made sure to come out firing.
The first points would come from an SDSU bucket by senior Kim Villalobos. Villalobos was a bright spot for state all night long, finishing the game with 17 points, good for second on the team behind junior Veronica Sheffey’s 20-point performance. However, the first quarter was taken over by a sharpshooting UNLV team.
The Rebels drained six three-pointers in the first quarter alone, setting a pace the Aztecs just could not keep up with. The first period finished with a score of 26-19, with UNLV consequently keeping their lead for the rest of the game.
SDSU did however show some intense grit and resilience. Despite being down nearly the entire game, they attempted to play catch-up as best they could.
Their never-say-die mentality was put on full display in the second quarter. UNLV continued to run up the score through the entire first half of the quarter, but towards the end, the Aztecs woke up.
SDSU scored nine points in just two minutes, bringing the score to a very manageable 40-35. However, a late foul put UNLV’s McKinna Brackens on the free-throw line. She would drain her two shots resulting in a first-half score of 42-35 UNLV.
The highlight of the first half came in the form of UNLV’s Kiara Jackson. The senior guard was a headache for the SDSU defense all night long. In the first half alone she totaled 17 points.
A chunk of UNLV’s points came off of mental mistakes by the Aztecs as well. SDSU accounted for seven turnovers in the first half, compared to UNLV’s four. Sloppy ball handling contributed to the Aztecs night long deficit.
The second half got off to a disastrous start for San Diego State as they watched the defense fully implode, allowing themselves to slide to a 17-point deficit at one point. But as mentioned before the team played with a certain sense of grit. SDSU would surge in the late part of the third, cutting that 17-point lead to a 5-point lead, resulting in an end-of-quarter score of 54-59 UNLV.
In these little spurts of scoring, the Scarlett and Black appeared to be a complete team, scoring with efficiency while playing physical preventative defense. Despite this, they were simply spouts of potential in an otherwise disappointing performance, made evident by their rough final quarter.
SDSU began to sputter again entering the fourth, but this time UNLV never took their foot off the gas, scoring 16 in the final quarter to give them a clean 75 points on the night. SDSU just could not keep up, scoring 11 points of their own to finish with 65 points.
UNLV’s Kiara Jackson continued to shred SDSU’s defense in the second half, finishing her night with 27 points and nine assists.
It is never easy to swallow a conference loss, but it is rough when considering the Aztecs’ earlier victory over the conference-leading Rebels. SDSU will look to change directions and find some consistency against last-place Utah State (2-22, 1-11) at home on Feb. 15.
