Jan. 12, 2002
LAS VEGAS - San Diego State and UNLV recycled the script from last year's game with one caveat, there was no need for any last-second heroics from the Lady Rebels.
San Diego State, which led by as many as 18 points here last year, opened the game on fire and ran out to a 17-point first half lead before UNLV sandwiched a 20-2 run around halftime then held on down the stretch to defeat the Aztecs 67-55 before 2,379 at the Thomas & Mack Center Saturday night.
Ashonda Williams scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Claire Swinbank added 14 points to lead San Diego State (8-6, 0-1 MWC) in its Mountain West Conference opener.
Linda Frohlich, who had just four points at intermission, led all players with 22 points, including 11 during a 15-2 spurt during the first seven minutes of the second half that helped UNLV (14-1, 2-0) take its first lead of the game. Frohlich, the MWC's leader in both scoring and rebounding also collected a game-high 14 boards.
The Lady Rebels would never trail again and led by as many as 13 points with just over three minutes to play.
The Aztecs cut UNLV's advantage back to single digits twice in the last five minutes but could draw no closer.
"UNLV came out (in the second half) and hit some big shots that gave them the momentum and shook us up a little bit," said SDSU head coach Barb Smith. "We had such an easy time of it in the first half playing our defense that it kind of jarred us a little bit."
The first half was all Aztecs. San Diego State opened the game in a triangle-and-two, playing man-to-man on Frohlich and Constance Jinks. And it worked. Frohlich managed just two buckets during the first 20 minutes, while Jinks, who averages nearly 18 points a game, was held to zilch.
It also helped that San Diego State shot lights out from the outside. Williams, who had all of her 16 points by intermission, drilled three treys to open the game and put the Aztecs on top early.
The Aztecs' lead first reached double figures during a 9-0 run midway through the half. Atim Otii, who scored 13 points for her 11th double-digit game of the season, started the spurt with a 3-point play, before Morgan Vargas added a lay up. Long jumpers from Jamey Cox and Williams completed the run as the Lady Rebels were held scoreless for over five minutes.
Williams' fourth 3-pointer of the period and a lay-up by Otii put San Diego State up by 17 points, 36-19, three minutes before the break.
But UNLV scored the final seven points of the half behind a free throw from Petra Glaser and back-to-back 3-point baskets from Erin Johannson and Kinesha Davis to cut SDSU's lead to 36-26 at intermission.
"The first half was some of the best basketball we've played all year," said Smith. "We just couldn't sustain that effort."
San Diego State out-rebounded the Lady Rebels 36-33 and lost for just the second time this season when winning the battle of the boards.
The Aztecs return to action on Thursday Jan. 17 when the Aztecs travel to No. 20 Colorado State. Tip off is at 7 p.m. (MST). The game can be heard live over the Internet at www.goaztecs.com.