‘Tis the start of the holiday season the season of good cheer and the time of year when giving is more important than receiving.

Since neither the San Diego State women’s basketball team nor the University of Southern California resembling Scrooge, the two teams were in the holiday mood as they both tried to give Sunday’s game away.

Down the stretch, however, SDSU gave away the most, and on the receiving end was USC and All-American Tina Thompson, who left town with a 71-60 victory.

Besides the loss and watching Thompson, a Naismith Player of the Year candidate, leave Peterson Gym with 25 points and 11 rebounds, the Aztecs (2-2) also lost their 23-game regular-season home winning streak.

“Tina Thompson is an All-American,” Burns said. “When we made our little bit of a run, they spread the floor and got the ball to the best player on the floor. She can slash like a point guard; she’s got great hops and what you didn’t see, thank God, was how well she can shoot from the three-point line.”

But as much as the 6-foot-3 Thompson flourished, the remaining players on the court for both teams oftentimes looked lethargic. And while this was the first game of the season for USC, several times the players for both teams looked rusty.

SDSU shot just 31 percent from the floor. The Aztecs also turned the ball over 16 times and had only 13 assists as a team.

On the other hand, the Women of Troy (1-0) shot 54 percent from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 23 times.

The difference? SDSU just wasn’t able to get on track.

“We played tentatively, I thought,” Burns said.

Aztec junior forward Olivia DiCamilli, who finished with 16 points and four rebounds, shared similar thoughts to that of Burns.

“We had a lot of good looks at the basket and some open shots, but we weren’t capitalizing on that,” DiCamilli said. “Also, they have great size and athletic ability, and that plays a big part of it because there’s an intimidation factor there and it took away a lot of our inside game. If you look at their front line, they’re huge: 6-3, 6-4 and 6-5. It takes away a lot.”

And benefiting was Thompson. When she received her first foul just 30 seconds into the game, it looked once again like SDSU’s Jodi Nowlin-Tres had her number for the second straight year. But Thompson kept her composure and took the Aztecs to school keying two second-half runs of 7-2 and 12-3 to put the game out of reach and never allow SDSU any closer than five points.

“I thought that (SDSU’s) defense was great,” Thompson said. “They kept us from doing a lot of things and they caused a lot of turnovers. I think that is one of their strengths. They are a very good team. Their defense is really good.

“I don’t think (the win) was easy. Let’s not take anything away from them. I think we just composed ourselves and took control of the game down the stretch. We were a little bit more patient than we usually are, and that helped us overcome their defensive pressure.”

Added DiCamilli: “(Thompson) is a great player, and I have a lot of respect for her. When her team needed it, she came through. It wasn’t like we weren’t guarding her. She’s just a great player, an All-American. She created her own shots, and that was the key to their victory.”