Dec. 6, 2001
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State has owned the series with San Jose State through the years, winning 16 of the 19 meetings. However the Aztecs found themselves in an unusual position Thursday night at Cox Arena - looking for revenge after last year's five-point loss in San Jose.
But the Spartans, who had never won back-to-back games versus SDSU before tonight, had quite another things in mind and overcame a 36 percent shooting performance to defeat the Aztecs, 65-62, in front 491.
Cricket Williams, who scored 13 of her co-game-high 16 points in the second half, broke a 57-57 tie with a 3-pointer with 1:26 to play that put San Jose State (4-2) up for good and the Spartans' hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute of game to seal the win.
"Williams' three really took the wind out of our sails," said SDSU head coach Barb Smith, whose squad used an 8-0 run to overcome a five-point deficit and led 57-55 with 2:32 to play. "We've got to learn to push through those kind of setbacks and score.
"But right now our offense isn't working well enough together to know that we are going to come down and score. We've got to get through that confidence problem in order to become a winning team."
San Diego State (3-4) had a chance to tie the game as the clock wore down, but Jamey Cox's 3-point attempt was off the mark as time expired.
Missy Schomaker scored a team- and season-high 14 points, including a 3-pointer that pulled San Diego State (3-4) within a bucket with 13.4 seconds to play.
Morgan Vargas added a career-best 13 points and four steals and Atim Otii finished in double figures for the sixth time in seven games with 12 points before fouling out with just under seven minutes to go.
But once again it was turnovers and rebounding that did in the Aztecs, who committed a season-high 28 miscues and gave up 20 offensive rebounds to the Spartans.
"Turnovers, rebounding and free throw shooting were big keys once again for us," said Smith. "We just gave them too many looks (SJSU took 61 shots compared to 51 by SDSU) and second-chance opportunities and they took advantage of them."
Elea A'Giza and Atari Parker also finished in double figures for the Spartans with 16 and 13 points each, respectively.
San Diego State led for all but one minute of the first half and by as many as nine points 7:30 before intermission.
But San Jose State, which was ice cold early on and made just one of its first 19 shots from the field, used a 14-4 run the catch the Aztecs then scored the period's final five points to take a 28-24 lead into the locker room.
The Spartans held that lead for all but nine seconds of the second half before the Aztecs put themselves back on top for the final time with their 8-0 run late in the game.
The San Diego State women's basketball team will take the next 10 days off to prepare for final exams. The Aztecs return to action on Dec. 16th when SDSU takes on Sacramento State at 7 p.m. in Cox Arena.