Feb. 2, 2002
SALT LAKE CITY - San Diego State was game early, but just didn't have enough to stay with Utah down the stretch as the Utes handed the Aztecs a 75-59 loss at the Huntsman Center Saturday afternoon.
Claire Swinbank was the Aztecs leading scorer for the fifth straight game, scoring 18 points and Tanisha Knight added 10 for her first double-digit scoring performance of the year for San Diego State (9-11, 1-6 MWC).
But it wasn't enough to out-do Utah (10-9, 3-4 MWC), which got a career-high 19 points from Carley Marshall and 16 more from Lindsay Herbert to snap a three-game losing streak.
"We were much better offensively today, but our defense wasn't as aggressive as it should have been and that hurt us," said SDSU head coach Barb Smith. "We just weren't able to sustain the defensive effort we needed to in order to stay in the game."
Utah led by just seven at the break but opened the half with an 8-2 run, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Herbert to take a 13-point lead and control of the game.
Seven unanswered Ute points with four minutes to play gave Utah its biggest lead of the game, 21 points. The Aztecs rallied down the stretch pulling within 14 points on two occasions but never could slice the deficit to single digits.
"We knew Herbert was going to be a bad match-up for us and Marshall came of the bench for them and had a great game," said Smith. "The game plan was to sag off Marshall since she has struggled shooting the ball this season but she made us pay. Sometimes the playing the percentages doesn't pay off."
San Diego State played its best first half since the start of Mountain West Conference play, shooting over 40 percent from the floor and playing neck-a-neck with the Utes.
The Aztecs connected on seven of their first 10 shot from the field and used a 10-2 run, including three jumpers from Swinbnak, early in the half to build a four-point lead
Seven lead changes and four ties highlighted the next 10 minutes, but it was Utah that closed the period on a roll, scoring seven of the half's final nine points to take a 35-28 lead into the lockerrrom.
San Diego State, which plays five of its final seven in Cox Arena, returns home to meet UNLV on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m.