Dec. 30, 2001
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team appears to be heating up just in time for the New Year.
Claire Swinbank poured in 14 of her season-high 17 points in the first half and Jamey Cox tallied all of her 14 points in the second half as the Aztecs defeated Detroit, 70-56, before 427 Sunday afternoon in Cox Arena.
"In the last two games I think we've really come a long way mentally and we are definitely making some strides toward becoming a better basketball team," said SDSU head coach Barb Smith. "We challenged the team about playing back-to-back complete games after our win over Radford and we did that. I'm really proud of how the team is playing right now."
Atim Otii and Ashonda Williams also finished up in double figures with 11 points each for San Diego State (7-5), which has won four of its last five games and moved two games over .500 for the first time this season following the win.
Williams also grabbed a team-leading six rebounds for the Aztecs, who finished the game with a 35-32 advantage on the boards, including an 18-10 edge on the offensive glass, and have now out-rebounded three straight opponents.
Randee Henry, a 44-percent free throw shooter, shot 12-for-14 from the free throw line and paced Detroit (4-6) with a game-high 22 points. Michelle James and Molly Peterman also finished in double digits with 12 points each for the Titans, who lost for the fourth straight time.
San Diego State led 38-32 at intermission and took control of the game early in the second half, scoring 17 of the period's first 23 points to take a 15-point lead with 10 minutes to play. Williams scored eight of her 11 points during the run, including back-to-back 3-pointers that capped the spurt and gave the Aztecs their largest lead of the game.
Detroit wasn't about to go away quietly though. The Titans mounted an 8-0 run of their own with just over four minutes to play and a minute later had whittled SDSU's advantage to just five points.
But UDM was unable to find the basket again as the Aztecs scored the final nine points of the contest, including a huge trey and four free throws by Cox that helped to provide the final margin of victory.
"We had a couple of lulls in the game where we couldn't score, but our defense hung tough," Smith said. "In the last three minutes of the game we played smart basketball and that was a big key as to why we were able to close out this win."
Another key was San Diego State's defensive effort, which held Detroit to 17-for-42 shooting, including just 2-for-13 from beyond the arc, and forced 28 Titan turnovers. The Aztecs also finished up with double-digit steals for the fourth time in five games, collecting 18 on the afternoon.
San Diego State will take the next two days off to enjoy the New Years' holiday before returning to practice in preparation for their next game versus Portland State on Jan. 5th at 7:30 p.m. in Cox Arena.