Nov. 29, 1999
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team literally walked into a tiger trap in the championship game of the 1999 Pacific Bell Classic Saturday, falling 85-61 to Missouri at Cox Arena. The loss dropped SDSU to 1-3 on the season, while the Tigers improved to 3-1 with the win.
Despite playing fairly evenly with Missouri over the final 30 minutes, SDSU, which has made a habit of slow starts this season, dug itself a 24-point hole just six minutes into the game thanks to a full-court trapping defense that gave the young Aztec guards fits. It was a deficit from which SDSU would never recover.
"We struggled with the trap early on and I think our team learned some good lessons today," said SDSU head coach Barb Smith. "I'm glad we saw it early in the season because we can learn from it and be better prepared the next time we see it. But I was glad to see that we never gave up, despite all the early turnovers."
And there were plenty of them. San Diego State finished up with 36 turnovers, including 20 in the first half. Still, after SDSU got its berings, the Aztecs played straight up with the Tigers. Unfortunately that didn't happen until the home team was already down 25-1.
San Diego State began to show some life with 4:40 to play in the first half. Trailing 40-14, the Aztecs closed the opening period with an 11-3 run to slice the MU advantage to 18, 43-25, at intermission.
A free throw by sophomore forward Atim Otii to open the second half pulled SDSU within 17 points, but that's as close as the Aztecs would get.
Frehman Jamey Cox, who was named to the all-tournament team, led the Aztecs for the second straight game in scoring with 14 points. Three other Aztecs, freshman Kacee Wheeler (12), senior Mary Apiafi (12) and sophomore Atim Otii (10), finished in double figures, while junior Shannon Lee picked up five steals.
The Aztecs return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 1 when SDSU travels to the Bay Area to play San Francisco. SDSU then host USC at Cox Arena on Dec. 4. Tip time for both games is 7 p.m.
Missouri 85, San Diego State 61
Missouri (3-1)
Monsees 9, M. Willliams 13, Lassiter 17, Bright 9, Helm 9, Barr 2, Cardenas 9, Franklin 6, Johnston 3, Simpson 2, Akpaffiong 6. Totals 36-80 8-11 85.
San Diego State (1-3)
Bundage 6, Otii 10, Apiafi 12, Lee 5, Cox 14, Wheeler 12, Kiesling 2. Totals 16-38 25-33 61.
Halftime ? MU 43, SDSU 25. 3-Point Goals ? MU 5-10 (Monsees, Lassiter, Bright, Cardenas, Johnston), SDSU 4-6 (Cox 4). Fouled out ? None. Rebounds ? MU 38 (Williams 8), SDSU 32 (Bundage 9). Assists ? MU 24 (Lassiter 8), SDSU 12 (Bundage 4). Total Fouls ? MU 24, SDSU 11. A ? 523.