The San Diego State University women’s basketball team (21-4, 15-1) extended itrs lead on first place in the Mountain West to three games with an emphatic 80-62 win over second place UNLV (17-9, 12-4) inside Viejas Arena Wednesday night.
The Lady Aztecs had all five starters scored in double-digits and SDSU outscored the Rebels 25-11 in the fourth quarter to improve to 15-1 in conference play.
“This group is in the gym constantly and really wants to be great,” SDSU head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said after the game. “They set a goal for themselves to win a regular season championship, so we talk about doing it game-by-game and brick-by-brick and they’ve done that so far.”
Naomi Panganiban scored a game-high 20 points, while Kennedy Lee (16 points and 10 rebounds) and Nala Williams (13 points and 11 rebounds) each had double-doubles. Bailey Barnhard had 14 points and eight rebounds and Nat Martinez had 13 points.
With the top two teams in the conference battling, the intensity was high from the tip. There were eight lead changes and five ties in the first half, but both teams also traded big runs before ending up at a 38-35 Aztec lead at the half. UNLV had a 15-3 run in the second quarter, but then the Lady Aztecs closed out the first half on an 8-0 run punctuated by a Panganiban and-one in the final second.
SDSU began the fourth quarter on a 14-5 run and ended up shooting 63 percent in the frame while holding the Rebels, who have won the last four regular season championships to a 24 percent clip.
Aaliyah Alexander and Meadow Roland each finished with 18 points for UNLV.
Notes & quotes
The Lady Aztecs had 14 assists and just six turnovers.
This was head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson’s 200th career win.
UNLV has lost just eight times in itrs last 81 conference games. Four of the losses have come to SDSU in the last two seasons.
“It was a great day to be an Aztec. It was a great game. I’m proud of our team, but even more proud of this community that showed up and it felt like the roof was going to come off. I’m so grateful because these young ladies work so hard every day and they deserve that support.” Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson on the crowd tonight
The Lady Aztecs host Fresno State Saturday at 1 p.m. SDSU clinches at least a share of the regular season championship with a win.
Red & Black
SDSU’s men’s team defeated visiting Nevada-Reno, 71-57, on Feb. 14 to remain in a tie for first place in the MW standings. The Aztecs improved to 18-6 overall, 12-2 in conference play while the Wolf Pack dropped to 17-8 overall, 9-5 in MW play.
SDSU is tied with Utah State forThe Azre the conference’s top spot.
The Aztecs remain the only MW team without a home court loss (7-0).
SDSU improved to 14-0 all-time in games against Nevada at Viejas Arena and extended its MW best home court record to 175-47 since the conference’s inception in the 1999-2000 season.
The Aztecs held Nevada to 32.7 percent shooting from the floor while sank 17 of 18 free-throw attempts for its highest percentage (0.944) of the season.
SDSU had a 13-0 run in the second half. Guard Reese Dixon-Waters (20 points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal) logged his third 20-point game of the season and sixth of his career while forward Magoon Gwath returned to action after missing the last five games. Gwath (13 points, three rebounds, one assist) had a hot hand by becoming the first Aztec to hit three three-pointers and five blocks in the same game since the 1996-97 season.
B.J. Davis (14 points) logged four rebounds and five assists. He reached double figures in scoring for the 13th time this season and 28th time in his career.
SDSU led 36=25 at haftime.The Wolf Pack opened the second half on a 13-2 run to tie the game, 38-all, but the Aztecs went on a 13-0 run to reclaim the lead at 51-38. SDSU. which was out-rebounded 35-30 in the game, out-scored Nevada 11-3 on fast-break chances.
Aztec head coach Brian Dutcher called the game’s outcome a “really solid team victory.”
“This is a tough stretch of games coming up,” Dutcher said. “We are playing the upper galf of the conference over the next week. We beat a good Nevada team, we have Grand Canyon coming here then we are heading to Colorado State. Coaching is over-rated, having good players is not. I have really good players that play well together, and I am just proud of all of them.”
Dutcher said when the Aztecs force turnovers, the fast-break presents opportunities to score.
“I always tell the guys it is hard to win a game in the half-courtm so we have to get second chance opportunities on the glass, and we have to run. Part of our big run in the second half was all fast-break opportunities, all steals. We created a lot of turnovers, which led to a lot of baskets and free throws.”
“We were able to make plays that led to offensive buckets, and we were just connected and moved the ball well,” Gwath said. “Everybody’s taking good shots and shooting a pretty good percentage.”
Dixon-Waters said the team needs to pay attention to detail and close games out heading into the final stretch of the season. “We had a 20-point lead and we let it get away,” he said. “We need to hold our lead and play like the team we know we are on offense and defense.”
Dixon-Waters paces SDSU with a 12.7 season scoring average, followed by Davis at 10.9, Miles Byrd at 10.3 and Gwath at 9.4. Dixon-Waters is averaging 13.5 ppg in conference play.
Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Standings
Men’s Basketball
| Conference | Overall | |||||||
| Team | GP | W-L-T | PCT | GP | W-L-T | PCT | STREAK | LAST 10 |
| San Diego City | 15 | 15-0 | 1.000 | 27 | 22-5 | 0.815 | Won 13 | 10-0 |
| Palomar | 15 | 10-5 | 0.667 | 27 | 18-9 | 0.667 | Won 1 | 6-4 |
| Southwestern | 15 | 10-5 | 0.667 | 27 | 14-13 | 0.519 | Lost 1 | 7-3 |
| San Diego Miramar | 15 | 9-6 | 0.600 | 27 | 14-13 | 0.519 | Won 1 | 5-5 |
| Grossmont | 15 | 7-8 | 0.467 | 26 | 9-17 | 0.346 | Lost 1 | 6-4 |
| Cuyamaca | 15 | 6-9 | 0.400 | 27 | 10-17 | 0.370 | Won 1 | 4-6 |
| San Diego Mesa | 16 | 6-10 | 0.375 | 28 | 11-17 | 0.393 | Won 1 | 5-5 |
| MiraCosta | 15 | 5-10 | 0.333 | 27 | 10-17 | 0.370 | Lost 4 | 2-8 |
| Imperial Valley | 15 | 0-15 | 0.000 | 27 | 0-27 | 0.000 | Lost 27 | 0-10 |
PCAC Women Basketball
| Conference | Overall | |||||||
| Team | GP | W-L-T | PCT | GP | W-L-T | PCT | STREAK | LAST 10 |
| MiraCosta | 11 | 11-0 | 1.000 | 27 | 27-0 | 1.000 | Won 27 | 10-0 |
| Palomar | 11 | 10-1 | 0.909 | 26 | 19-7 | 0.731 | Won 5 | 9-1 |
| San Diego Mesa | 12 | 7-5 | 0.583 | 28 | 15-13 | 0.536 | Won 2 | 7-3 |
| San Diego City | 11 | 6-5 | 0.545 | 27 | 14-13 | 0.519 | Lost 2 | 5-5 |
| Southwestern | 11 | 3-8 | 0.273 | 25 | 9-16 | 0.360 | Lost 2 | 3-7 |
| Cuyamaca | 11 | 2-9 | 0.182 | 23 | 4-19 | 0.174 | Won 1 | 2-8 |
| Imperial Valley | 11 | 0-11 | 0.000 | 26 | 4-22 | 0.154 | Lost 14 | 0-10 |
