TheSan Diego State women’s basketball team started its 2003 exhibitioncampaign on a sour note, opening up with a 66-52 loss to Vanguardbefore a crowd of 375 at Cox Arena.

Sophomore Ashlee Dunlap, who had a phenomenal season as afreshman, was just 1-of-6 from the field but tallied eight rebounds,while freshman Courtney Fritz had the standout performance of thenight, putting up 17 points with four assists. Both were team highsand it looks as though Fritz could be a key player heading into theseason.

Freshman Michelle Elliott also had a solid performance, scoring 15points and hitting three out of the Aztecs’ four three-pointers.

Vanguard never trailed at any point in the game and took an early16-9 lead. But SDSU came back and narrowed the gap to 16-15. It wasthen that Vanguard proceeded to gain all of the momentum, going on a16-4 run to take a 32-19 lead.

In the second half, the Aztecs managed to come within nine pointsof Vanguard, but that was the closest SDSU would get.

Vanguard held the Aztecs to a shooting percentage of 38.6 whileLions guard Cecilia Josefsson lit it up from behind the arc, hittingsix three-pointers for a game-high 18 points.

SDSU’s final exhibition game will take place at 7 p.m. Mondayagainst the Nunawading Spectres, an Australian travel team. TheAztecs’ regular season play will begin at 5 p.m. on Nov. 21 in anon-conference matchup at home against St. Mary’s.

– Kourosh Safavi