Dec. 21, 2001
Game No. 10San Diego State (5-4)
at Creighton (4-4)
Saturday - December 22, 2001
Omaha Civic Auditorium (9,377)
Omaha, Neb.
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Tip-Off: 2:00 p.m. (CST)
Webcast: For the second consecutive season all San Diego State women's basketball games can be heard live over the Internet at www.goaztecs.com. Bill Earley (p-b-p) and Tammy Blackburn (color) will call all the home webcasts, with Dan Lawton handling the play-by-play from the road.
The Records: San Diego State improved to 5-4 Thursday with a 52-51 victory at UMKC. Creighton enters the week a 4-4 and is coming off an 86-43 loss at Iowa.
In The RPI: San Diego State enters the week ranked No. 200 in the most recent RPI rankings release by collegerpi.com. Creighton is ranked No. 132.
SDSU Coach Barb Smith: Smith (Ohio State '86) is in her fifth season at San Diego State. She owns an overall record of 44-72 (.379) with the Aztecs.
Creighton Coach Connie Yori: Yori (Creighton '86) is in her 10th season with the Blue Jays and has a 150-112 (.573) record.
Series History: Saturday's game will be the seventh between San Diego State an Creighton. The Blue Jays have won all six of the previous meetings, including a 89-66 rout of the Aztecs in the 1992 WAC Tourney the last time the two teams met.
Aztecs Look To Extend Winning Streak to Three At Creighton Saturday
San Diego State (5-4), winners of two in a row for the second time this season, will be out to extend its current winning streak to three Saturday afternoon in Omaha, Neb., when the Aztecs close out a brief two-game swing through America's Heartland at Creighton (4-4).
The Aztecs, who have not won three in a row since sandwiching six straight wins around last season's New Years holiday, are coming off a thrilling 52-51 come-from-behind victory at UMKC Thursday night. Missy Schomaker drilled back-to-back 3-pointers in the final three minutes and Nicollete McCartny hit a baby hook with 11.3 seconds to go as San Diego State scored eight of the game's final nine points to eke out the win.
But now SDSU's attention turns to Creighton, which has gotten the best of the Aztecs in each six of the previous meetings between to two schools, including twice in Omaha. Former Western Athletic Conference (WAC) foes, San Diego State and Creighton squared of three time during both the 1991 and '92 campaigns. The two teams have not met since the Blue Jays defeated the Aztecs, 89-66, in the 1992 WAC Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Creighton, which has not had home game in nearly a month (Nov. 27th) and recently concluded a five-game road trip at 3-2, is coming off an 86-43 loss at Iowa last Saturday. The Blue Jays are 1-1 at home this season.
A Win Saturday By The Aztecs Would ...
*Improve San Diego State to 6-4 on the season.
*Get the Aztecs off to their best start under Barb Smith through 10 games. SDSU has not been above .500 after 10 games since opening the 1995-96 season 8-2.
*Be the squad's third win in a row and give the Aztecs a three-game winning streak for the first time this season.
*Mark the first time San Diego State has won back-to-back road games since January of last season.
*Improve SDSU to 3-2 away from campus on the year.
San Diego State-Creighton Series Shorts
*San Diego State has never defeated Creighton, which leads the all-time series, 6-0.
*The Aztecs are 0-2 versus Creighton in Omaha.
*Creighton's average margin of victory in the series is 9.3 ppg.
*The two teams last met on March 13, 1992 in the second round of 1992 WAC Tournament at Salt Lake City, Utah, with the Blue Jays posting an 89-66 victory.
*San Diego State is 2-9 all time against current members of the Missouri Valley Conference. However the Aztecs have won two in a row versus MVC opposition, routing Illinois State, 88-59, last season and Indiana State, 53-39, during the 1999-00 campaign.
*San Diego State and Creighton were both members of the Western Athletic Conference during the 1990-91 and '91-92 seasons.
A Quick Look At Creighton
Creighton (4-4) had a three-game winning streak snapped last Saturday at Iowa, falling to the Hawkeyes, 86-43, in its most recent outing. The loss was the largest for the Blue Jays since 1982. Still, Creighton has played well this season, despite facing an arduous schedule. The Blue Jays, who have already met a pair of top-25 squads, opened the year with a tough 59-56 loss at Nebraska before cruising past Kansas, 72-58. CU has also played No. 5 Iowa State (L, 75-74) and No. 19 Florida (L, 78-67) to close losses.
Dayna Finch, who has led Creighton in scoring four times this season, including three games in a row, continues to pace the Blue Jays' offense and averages 12.3 ppg. Finch is shooting at a 42-percent clip from beyond the arc and leads the MVC in 3-pointers made with 3.5 per game. Christy Neneman (10.3 ppg) and Traci Jones (10.0 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points, while Jenny Burns (4.8 rpg) is the Blue Jays' top rebounder.
Noting SDSU's Win Over UMKC
San Diego State's come-from-behind win at UMKC broke an eight game road losing streak dating to last season (not including neutral site games).
The win also marked the first time this season that the Aztecs have won when trailing with five minutes to play as SDSU scored eight of the game's final nine points.
SDSU posted another strong defensive effort, limiting the Kangaroos to just 51 points on 33-percent shooting.
Ashonda Williams paced the Aztecs in scoring for the fifth time this season, finishing with 10 points. It is the sixth time the junior has scored in double digits.
Jamey Cox dished out a game-high seven assists. She has now tallied at least six assists in seven games this season, including six games in a row.
Atim Otii grabbed a team-high eight boards for her third-best rebounding performance of the year.
Missy Schomaker and Valencia Howard each made their first starts of the season. It was the 10th career start for Schomaker and the first for Howard.
Out Of Our League
Dating to the start of last season, San Diego State is 13-9 (.591) versus non-conference competition, including its win over UMKC Thursday.
We've Got This In Common
San Diego State and Creighton have both beaten UMKC this season in Kansas City. The Blue Jays drilled the Kangaroos, 80-48, on Dec. 8, while the Aztecs got past UMKC, 52-51, Thursday night.
The Good News Is ...
Despite being solid in most aspects of the game, Creighton has struggled on the boards and enters Saturday's match up with a 6.9 rebounds pre game deficit. Good news for the Aztecs, who have also had difficulty in the rebounding department. SDSU is -3.4 on the boards this season.
The Bad News Is ...
Creighton, which leads the Missouri Valley Conference in turnover margin (+4.4), does a decent job of taking care of the ball and is averaging just over 18 turnovers per game. The Aztecs, on the other hand, are committing 22 miscues per contest.
The Blue Jays are also the MVC's top 3-point shooting team and are making nearly 9.5 treys per game, which could make things tough for the Aztecs, whose 37 percent 3-point field goal percentage defense ranks seventh in the Mountain West.
Keeping the turnover bug at bay (under 20 turnovers) and locking up on Creighton's 3-point shooters will be two of the keys to victory for SDSU Saturday versus Creighton.
Like Deja Vu All Over Again
If the start to the 2001-02 season seems similar to last year it is. And that may be a good thing for the Aztecs. Last season, San Diego State opened the year 3-5 and was coming off back-to-back losses, including a close defeat at San Jose State on Dec. 6, before getting red-hot and putting together a six-game winning streak during the holidays.
This year, the Aztecs started a little better off at 3-4. Still, like last year at this time, SDSU entered the holiday season on a two-game losing streak, including a close loss to SJSU on Dec. 6. However, SDSU appears to be heating up just in time for the holidays and has won two in a row heading into Saturday's game at Creighton.
Nailbiters Becoming A Habit For Aztecs
San Diego State's season may be just nine games old, but the Aztecs have already been involved in a number of down-to-the-wire finishes.
The Aztecs' 52-51 win at UMKC was the fourth game this season decided by fewer than five points and the second in the last three games for the Aztecs, who improved to 2-2 in late-game nailbiters.
Earlier this year, the Aztecs dropped a 63-59 decision to UC San Diego, but rebounded in the following game to hold off Navy, 73-69.
More recently, the Aztecs were edged by San Jose State, 65-62, on Dec. 6.
Last season the Aztecs' were 4-2 in contests decided by less that five points, including a 2-0 mark on the road.
Thursday's win at UMKC was San Diego State's first road nailbiter of the current season.
Bye, Bye Monkey
San Diego State got a huge monkey off its back with its win at UMKC Thursday night. The Aztecs' 52-51 victory over the Kangaroos snapped an eight-game road losing streak (not including neutral site games) dating to last season.
Prior to SDSU's win at UMKC, the Aztecs had not won on enemy turf since defeating Air Force, 50-49, on Jan. 11, 2001.
Ironically, it also took a last-second shot to lift the San Diego State to victory over the Falcons as Tanisha Knight drilled a jumper from the wing with less than 20 seconds to play.
The Road Less Traveled
San Diego State's victory at Air Force last season also marked the last time the Aztecs have posted back-to-back road wins. In fact, SDSU put together a string of three-straight road victories last January, defeating Cal Poly (Jan. 2), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Jan. 7), and Air Force (Jan. 18) in successive fashion.
Still, the road has not been a fun place for the Aztecs, who have won just one of their last eight and seven of their last 19 games on enemy turf dating to the start of last season.
By comparison, San Diego State has recorded victories in 11 of its last 17 game inside the friendly confines of Cox Arena.
Getting Defensive
San Diego State has picked up the defensive intensity of late, holding four of its last five opponents below 40 percent shooting. The Aztecs, who entered the week ranked fourth in the Mountain West in field goal percentage defense at 39.2 percent, have now held over half of their 2001-02 opponents under 40 percent from the field, including San Jose State (36 percent), Sacramento State, (27 percent -- a season-low for an SDSU opponent ) and UMKC (33 percent) in their last three games. Since SDSU's win over Navy on Nov. 25th, opponents have connected on just 96-of-272 (35.3 percent) of their attempts from the field.
New To You
San Diego State broke a string of eight straight games with the same starting lineup versus UMKC as senior Missy Schomaker and junior Valencia Howard both made their first starts of the season.
Prior to Thursday's game in Kansas City, the Aztecs had gone with the same starting five of Ashonda Williams (F), Atim Otii (F), Morgan Vargas (C), Claire Swinbank (G) and Jamey Cox (G) in all eight games.
Tougher To Read Than The Dow-Jones
When it comes to turnovers, San Diego State has been tougher to gauge than the Dow-Jones Industrial average. Just when your ready to sell, like after SDSU's 31-turnover outing versus Sac. State, the Aztecs bounce back with a solid effort like Thursday's game at UMKC (15). SDSU has already had five games with at least 24 turnovers. However, it has also had four games with 20 or fewer. Last year, SDSU had only three 25+ TO games.
Hot Shots
After hitting on a season-low 33 percent from the field at TCU, San Diego State came back to produce its best shooting game of the season, connecting on 49 percent of its attempts versus San Jose State.
Including its back-to-back 40 percent shooting performances versus Sac. State and at UMKC, SDSU has now shot at least 40 percent in 8-of-9 games on the year, including three games over 45 percent.
As Easy As One, Two, THREE
One of San Diego State's biggest area of improvement on offense has come from behind the arc. The Aztecs shot a respectable 33.6 percent a year ago but are hitting 37 percent of their 3-pointers this season to rank fourth in the Mountain West Conference.
Just Shoot Me!
San Diego State is not only more accurate from beyond the arc this season, it is also much more productive. Entering Saturday's game at Creighton, the Aztecs are averaging 5.3 3-pointers per game, up significantly from the 3.6 they averaged a year ago.
Whose Got Next?
Through eight games, the scoring has been spread around by the Aztecs, who have had five different players turn in high-point honors. San Diego State has also had six players score in double digits at least twice. Atim Otii and Ashonda Williams lead the way with six double-digit scoring games followed by Jamey Cox and Claire Swinbank with four each, Morgan Vargas with three, and Missy Schomaker with two.
Keys To Victory
Scoring may sell tickets, but rebounding and turnovers continue to be the keys to victory for San Diego State. The Aztecs have out-rebounded three opponents and come away winners in all three games. Sacramento State and UMKC are the only SDSU opponent to out-rebound the Aztecs (45-37) and lose. SDSU is also 4-1 when committing fewer miscues.
60 Or Bust
Over the past two seasons, the number 60 has been key for the Aztecs. When San Diego State has held an opponent below 60 points during the last two years the Aztecs are 23-6 (.793).
The formula has held in eight of the nine games thus far in 2001-02 as the Aztecs held Cal Poly to just 54 points, Prairie View A&M to only 46 and Sac. State and UMKC to 51 in four victories, but yielded 74 points in their loss at California, 63 versus UCSD, 75 at TCU and 65 against San Jose State.
The only time San Diego State did break form this season occurred versus Navy, as the Aztecs gave up 69 points in their victory over the Midshipmen.
Top O' The Mountain
San Diego State's Atim Otii continues to be the Mountain West's hottest shooter. A career 46 percent shooter, the senior entered the week having connected on 62 percent of her attempts from the floor this season (39-of-63). Prior to Thursday's game at UMKC, the senior had also scored in double figures in 6-of-8 games.
Offensive Output
Atim Otii's hot shooting has made her the Aztecs' leading scorer. Though she has only paced San Diego State on the scoreboard just once, Otii is one of only two Aztecs to have scored in double digits in 6-of-9 games this year. Her 11.0 ppg scoring average ranks 12th in the Mountain West and is well above her 7.9 ppg career scoring average.
Piling On
Otii made her 65th straight start versus UMKC. She is the only Aztec to start every game over the past two-plus seasons.
As Advertised
Junior-college transfer Ashonda Williams came to San Diego State with a reputation as a big-time scorer after pouring in over 1,200 points in just two seasons at Contra Costa College. Through nine games, Williams has already finished in double figures six times and has led the Aztecs in scoring in five games, including her 10-point outing Thursday at UMKC. She is averaging 9.9 ppg to rank second on the team in scoring.
Bombs Away
For two years, the Aztecs have been looking for an outside shooter to compliment Jamey Cox. It appears that search is now over as newcomer Ashonda Williams continues to knock down shot after shot from beyond the arc.
Williams, who led the California state JC ranks in three-point shooting last season, has been more than solid since arriving at SDSU and trails only Cox in both 3-pointers made (16) and leads the team in 3-point shooting percentage among players with more than 10 makes (37 percent).
In the Mountain West Conference, Williams ranks 10th in 3-point field goal percentage in eighth in threes made.
Scho-Shines
Missy Schomaker (pronounced SHOO-maker) finally cracked the starting lineup, after supplying the Aztecs with plenty of solid minutes off the bench this season.
The Lincoln, Neb., native had her best outing in nearly a year versus San Jose State, scoring a team- and season-high 14 points in 26 minutes of work. She has also had solid performances against UC San Diego, scoring a team-high 13 points and grabbing a career-best eight rebounds and against Sac. State with eight points, six boards and four assists in just 17 minutes on the floor. At UMKC, the senior had perhaps the most clutch performance of her career, drilling back-to-back treys to help the Aztecs rally from an eight-point second half deficit.
Mac's Back
After eight long weeks of rehab, Nicolette McCartny is finally back in the Aztecs' lineup. A projected starter entering the season, the sophomore forward suffered a severe ankle sprain in practice Nov. 3rd and has been unavailable for action. She finally saw her first playing time against San Jose State but didn't have a big impact until the UMKC game when she knocked down the game-winning shot with 11.3 second to play. McCartny averaged just under six points and started 13 games last season as a freshman.
3-Point Threat
Jamey Cox continues to show why she is considered one of the Mountain West's most dangerous players from beyond the arc. Cox, who has connected on 35 percent (18-for-51) of her 3-point attempts this season and has hit at least one three in 8-of-9 games on the year. Cox ranks No. 11 in the Mountain West Conference in 3-point shooting and No. 5 in 3-pointers made per game (2.00). She has now made 138 treys during her two-plus year career at SDSU to rank No. 2 all time in that category.
Five Finger Discount
Senior Claire Swinbank has added a new feature to her game this season ... steals. Swinbank had a career-high six Sunday night versus Sacramento State. She added two more at UMKC and now has 22 on the season, good for second in the Mountain West Conference.
More 'Bank Shots
Claire Swinbank has gotten her final season off to a strong start. The senior guard has scored in double figures in 4-of-9 contests, including 13 points versus Prairie View A&M and a season-best 15-point performance at California.
SDSU's top shooter from the perimeter thus far, Swinbank is connecting on over 40 percent of her attempts from the field, including 55 percent (6-for-11) from beyond the arc.
Swinbank is also second the team in assists with 32 (4.7 apg), including a career-best nine versus Navy.
Two Can Play At That Game
In addition to ranking among the Mountain West Conference's top scorers, Jamey Cox and Claire Swinbank are also among the league's top playmakers. Cox has had at least six assists in 8-of-9 games this season and enters Saturday's game ranked at No. 2 with 5.4 assists per game. Swinbank, who dished up seven assists against San Jose State and another five versus Sacramento State, is No. 6 with 4.7 apg.