The San Diego State women’s basketball team lost their final contest of the regular season on Friday by a score of 62-46 against Mountain West Conference rival University of New Mexico.
With about six minutes left to play, SDSU junior forward Khristina Hunter made both free-throw attempts after being fouled to cut New Mexico’s lead to six points. But the swarming Lobo defense didn’t back down, stealing the ball and consequently scoring from beyond the 3-point line. The team would only see the Lobos’ lead grow in the remaining minutes of the game.
The Aztecs also lost the turnover battle in the game—badly. SDSU committed 27 turnovers to New Mexico’s 10, and shot 36.4 percent from the field. The Lobos scored 22 points of turnovers and also scored twice as many points as the Aztecs on second-chance scoring opportunities. Senior center Cierra Warren and senior guard Danesha Long led the team in scoring with 13 points each, while Long added three 3-pointers.
SDSU did have a better day rebounding the ball than UNM, especially on defense. The Aztecs finished with 40 total rebounds to the Lobos’ 30, and had 26 defensive rebounds compared to 16 from UNM.
Despite shooting better from the field in the first half, the Aztecs still found themselves down by 11 at halftime. In the first half, the Lobos posted 10 steals and scored 14 points off of turnovers. Long scored on both of her 3-point shot attempts and led the team with 10 rebounds, but also turned the ball over five times.
New Mexico had no trouble getting into offensive rhythms throughout the game. Redshirt junior guard Antiesha Brown shot 53 percent from the field, scoring 16 points and adding three rebounds. Redshirt senior guard Sara Halasz also had a good offensive performance, putting up 14 points and posting seven total rebounds.
The No. 6 seeded Aztecs continue their road trip in Las Vegas for the Reese’s Mountain West Conference Championship tournament that begins Monday at 7 p.m. against No.11 seeded Air Force. SDSU is 9-9 against Mountain West opponents this season, so the team knows it can match up with any of the rival teams it faces in its bracket. Head coach Stacie Terry said a week ago that she knew the Aztecs were locked into a sixth or seventh seed, which should be advantageous in the early stages of the tournament.
Photo by Kelly Smiley, Staff Photographer
