Jan. 20, 2001
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - San Diego State has made a habit of second-half come backs lately, winning the last two games it trailed at the half.
But there would be no come back for the Aztecs tonight.
Not in this place.
Not in "The Pit".
New Mexico's University Arena has always been a tough place for visitors to win.
San Diego State, which entered Saturday's game here riding a three-game road winning streak, found out just how tough as the Lobos handed the Aztecs an 86-66 loss in front of 7,389 vocal fans.
Sophomore Jamey Cox scored 17 and senior Sophia Sledge came off the bench to add 12 for SDSU (10-7, 2-2 MWC), which hadn't tasted defeat away from Cox Arena since early December.
New Mexico (12-6, 3-1 MWC) had three players finish in double figures led by Miranda Sanchez and Jordan Adams, who each finished with 20 points. Molly McKinnon also scored in double digits with 13.
But the difference in the game was rebounding. SDSU which had been outrebounded in 10 of 16 coming in, also lost the battle boards tonight as the Lobos cleared 46 caroms, including 20 on the offensive glass, many leading to second-chance points.
"Rebounding was clearly the difference tonight," said SDSU head coach Barb Smith, whose Aztecs could only manage 22 total boards. "We just couldn't get to the glass. New Mexico did and (the Lobos) had a lot of put-backs and that's how they built their lead."
Many of those put-backs came during a 14-0 Lobo run midway through the second half that was keyed by 10 points from Sanchez. The spurt gave New Mexico a 71-49 with 6:17 on the clock, its biggest of the game. San Diego State was never able to pull closer than 18 points the rest of the way.
It was a different story in the first 20 minutes, however. San Diego State led for the first seven minutes of the game before New Mexico put together a 11-2 scoring run to take a 25-17 lead at the 9:38 mark. The Lobos lead grew to as many as 12 points before Sledge scored six of the half's final eight points to slice UNM's lead to 43-36 at intermission.
A jumper by junior Tanisha Knight to open the second half pulled the Aztecs within five, but New Mexico scored 11 of the next 12 points to take a 54-39 lead.
"We did some good things tonight," Smith added. "It was good to get Jamey back on track. This is a difficult place to play. We hung tough but we just didn't have enough in the end."
San Diego State opens a three-game homestand at Cox Arena Saturday, Jan. 27, when the Aztecs host UNLV at 7 p.m.