Dec. 30, 2000
SAN DIEGO - Senior Anita Bundage came off the bench to score 13 points and grab 11 rebounds and junior Tanisha Knight added 12 points and 10 boards as San Diego State held off Northern Arizona for a 58-50 victory Saturday night at Cox Arena.
The win, SDSU's seventh in eight games versus the Lumberjacks, was also the third straight for the Aztecs (6-5), who are off to their best start since opening the 1995-96 season with a 7-2 record and have held each of their last three opponents to 50 or fewer points.
After making a habit of slow starts in recent games, San Diego State posted one of its better first halves on the season, using a 17-3 run midway through the period to take a 21-8 lead at the 9:50 mark and a 32-18 advantage at intermission.
"We were having trouble scoring in the first five minutes of games recently," SDSU head coach Barb Smith said. "But tonight we came out and scored easily and played solid defense from the start. Usually we are a second-half team and tonight we were a first-half team."
Freshman Nicolette McCartny scored four of her 11 on back-to-back lay-ups during the first two minutes of the second half to put the Aztecs up by 18. It wouldn't be as easy the rest of the way.
Northern Arizona (3-10), which got a team-high 13 points from Lindsey Foster, kept plugging away and sliced the deficit to just four points with just over three minutes to play. Anna Sturing, who finished with 10 points, scored four during what turned out to be a 9-1 Lumberjack run that cut SDSU's lead to 50-46 with 3:21 remaining.
The Aztecs, who entered the game shooting just 65 percent from the foul line, connected on 8-of-12 down the stretch, however, to put the game out of reach.
"I really like the way we are playing right now," Smith added. "It has truly been a team effort all season long and tonight was no exception. We just have to get a little more consistent."
San Diego State will get a chance to work on that consistency Tuesday, Jan. 2, when the Aztecs open a brief two-game road trip at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 7 p.m.