San Diego State women’s basketball defeated the University of Incarnate Word 81-38 on Sunday afternoon at Viejas Arena.
Defense propelled the Aztecs to victory. They were able to limit the Cardinals to just two points in the second quarter and three in the third.
Junior forward Monique Terry said the Aztecs’ focus this season is defense.
“We’re trying to identify ourselves as a defensive team,” Terry said. “With them only scoring two points, it really uplifted us. We know we can score, but we were trying to focus more on our defense than on the offensive side.”
The effort on defense helped the Aztecs offensively.
With a game full of deflections, steals, easy rebounds and forced turnovers, SDSU was able to score 21 points off of fastbreaks.
Freshman guard Jayden Perez said the team is aiming for a fast-paced identity.
“We also want our identity to be more of a fast-paced team,” she said. “That’s when the coaches and the team feels that we’re at our best.”
Terry said the team’s quickness helps the fastbreaks be successful.
“As soon as we see a tip or we see one of our teammates has the ball secure, we have to get out and run,” she said. “A lot of people don’t really do that. With us, that’s an advantage because we’re fast.”
The Aztecs shot for 50 percent from the field and a team-high 72 percent from the free throw line.
Head coach Stacie Terry said the team has been working on free throws.
“It’s been an emphasis for the last couple of games because we have not shot the ball well from the free throw line,” Terry said. “We’ve been shooting a lot more in practice.”
Bench players were able to contribute to the victory, scoring 32 of the 81 points.
Stacie Terry said the bench will play a big part of the future this season.
“This was a huge step in our growth as a team,” she said. “Our bench players were able to get a lot of opportunities, a lot of minutes so that’s what I’m going to take away from this game. Down the stretch, as we get deeper into this rotation and deeper into these games, our bench is going to be key for us.”
Perez was able to collect her first collegiate basket and finished with 11 points, two rebounds and two assists.
“Our team just had a lot of confidence behind us,” Perez said. “We got a lot better today overall, we got to work on a lot of things that we typically don’t get to.”
Monique Terry had a career-high afternoon going five-for-five from the field with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists.
SDSU will host Cal Baptist on Nov. 23 at 5 p.m. at Viejas Arena.
