San Diego State women’s basketball was defeated by Boise State in overtime 69-67 on Feb. 15 at Viejas Arena.
Boise State senior forward A’shanti Coleman scored the game-winning layup with three seconds left in overtime.
The Aztecs found themselves in an intense back-and-forth clash against the Broncos — a game in which there were 13 lead changes.
Sophomore guard Sophia Ramos led the Aztecs with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists. The 14 rebounds were a career-high for Ramos.
“The posts are doing a great job blocking out,” Ramos said. “(Senior forwards Baylee Vanderdoes and Monique Terry) are blocking out some tough rebounders so I get to do the easy part, kind of fly in and go find the ball.”
Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson credited Ramos’ high rebound count to the blocking ability of the forwards.
“You’re always going to see our guards have more (rebounds) than our bigs just by design,” Terry-Hutson said.
Senior guard Taylor Kalmer had the second-most points with 19, continuing her streak of scoring double digits in 21 consecutive games.
That’s the most by an Aztec in the Mountain West Conference era.
Boise State was unable to make a 3-pointer until the fourth quarter.
The Broncos were held to 3-of-21 from deep.
“We defend [the 3-point line] very well until the end of the game, and those are defensive lapses and they come back to hurt us,” Terry-Hutson said. “We just got to do a better job of staying locked in for 40 minutes.”
Junior guard Téa Adams had 12 points, four rebounds and a steal. Terry-Huston said Adams was tenacious on both sides of the floor.
“I thought she was aggressive, I thought she did a good job of looking to score and getting down hill,” Terry-Hutson said. “I was really proud of her energy both offensively and defensively. Téa really tried to help us keep the momentum going everytime she came in.”
Ramos scored the final four points of regulation — two of which came from the free-throw line. Those points sent the game into overtime.
Terry-Hutson said Ramos is developing as both a player and leader.
“Her game is growing every time she is on the floor,” Terry-Hutson said. “She’s a fighter and she’s willing to win. I think she is maturing as a leader and obviously her game speaks for itself.”
In the final minute of overtime, Boise State was able to pull ahead of the Aztecs.
Despite the loss, Terry-Hutson said it was nice to see a competitive game of basketball.
“What a great game that was, good college basketball game,” Terry-Hutson said.
The Aztecs have three games left to play in conference, with two of them on the road.
“I think our team is confident that they can match up and play against anybody. So I think that’s what you need going into the conference tournament,” Terry-Hutson said. “We have to buckle up and limit our stakes in the fourth quarter.”
Next up for the Scarlet and Black is a trip to Las Vegas for a match against the Lady Rebels of UNLV.
Both teams met back on Jan. 25, when the Aztecs won the first meeting 48-39.
