While the offense has finally come alive, it seems to be toolittle, too late for San Diego State women’s basketball. SDSU pickedup its second conference victory with an 83-79 defeat over Air Force,but could not hang on to its lead against New Mexico, losing 63-53.
After the win against Air Force, in which the team exploded for aseason-high 83 points, the Aztecs came out strong against the Lobos.
“I think it was definitely the best weekend of basketball we’veput together all year,” head coach Barb Smith said.
Even in front of 12,868 rowdy New Mexico fans, SDSU managed tokeep the score in its favor for three-fourths of the game. But asthey have done in the past, the Aztecs lost the fire and allowed NewMexico to rally back for the win.
SDSU lost ground in the beginning of the second half when theLobos held them to just eight points over 12 minutes of play,establishing a 45-36 lead with eight minutes left. The story wouldnot change over the next seven minutes.
The Lobos’ lead grew to as much as 13 points, but with one minuteleft, back-to-back 3-pointers by Ashonda Williams and Missy Shomakerwould bring the Aztecs to within eight. That was as close as SDSUwould get.
New Mexico got a great performance out of Jordan Adams, who had agame-high 19 points in the team’s sixth-straight conference home win.Unfortunately for the Aztecs, they did not have any standoutperformances from any of its players. Guard Jamey Cox did hit four3-pointers, finishing with 12 points, and guard Claire Swinbank added10.
Falcons get swept
SDSU came into New Mexico fresh off its second win against AirForce. Williams finally performed for the Aztecs, notching 16 points.Swinbank also had 16 points, with Cox coming in with 15, all off3-point shots.
SDSU shot 43 percent from the field and went 10-for-19 from3-point range. The Aztecs’ most marked improvement was free-throwshooting. The Red and Black have the worst free-throw shootingpercentage in the conference, but shot 80 percent from the lineagainst the Falcons.
“With Air Force, we knew this was a team we needed to get to boostour confidence,” forward Atim Otii said.
Isn’t it Ironic?
The game against Air Force marked the coming together of the twolowest-scoring teams in the MWC. Ironically, both teams would scoreat least 20 points over their average, in a shootout in which theAztecs came out on top.
Oh my, Otii
Senior Atim Otii was in foul trouble for the entire game againstNew Mexico. Otii, who is averaging a little less than 10points-per-game, went scoreless for the first time this season andfouled out with five minutes left in the game.
Home Again
This year marks the first time in four years that the Aztecs willplay at home to finish out the regular season. SDSU will face Utahtomorrow at 5:30 p.m., and Brigham Young Saturday at 8:30 p.m., inCox Arena.
“We need to have our offense show up and our defense stay solidthis weekend,” Smith said. “We get to be home before going to thetournament, which is an advantage.”
