Dec. 22, 2002
SAN DIEGO - In a game that, on paper, was not supposed to be close, the San Diego State women's basketball team fell in overtime to the Creighton Bluejays Sunday afternoon at Cox Arena, 72-79. With the loss, the Aztecs drop to 3-5 overall, while Creighton (7-2) extends its winning streak to five games and now owns a perfect 8-0 record against SDSU.
Aztec forward Ashlee Dunlap (Los Angeles, Calif.) paced the SDSU offense with 15 points to go along with 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Freshman guard Amber Fouse (Compton, Calif.) poured in an additional 14 points for the Aztecs, while senior Jamey Cox (Waterloo, Iowa) and freshman guard Veronica Shaw (Phoenix, Ariz.) each contributed 12 points to the losing effort.
Creighton entered Sunday's contest with an RPI ranking of 16, while SDSU was 258th, but the Aztecs held their own throughout the game. The two schools swapped leads for the first 20 minutes before heading into the locker room with SDSU trailing by just seven points, 23-30.
The Bluejays' largest lead came at the 5:46 mark of the second half when they had a 60-46 advantage. The Aztecs came back from that 14-point deficit, thanks to Shaw's six points during the final stretch of the second half to bring SDSU to within four. Dunlap then capitalized on a missed free three throw by Shaw, as she grabbed the offensive rebound and buried a jumper to bring the score to 64-66. Aztec junior Nicolette McCartny (Chicago, Ill.) then completed the come back with a lay-up to tie the score at 66-66 and send the game into overtime.
In overtime, SDSU had a pair of two-point leads early, but a three-pointer from Creighton's Dayna Finch broke a 70-70 tie and put her team up for good, as the Bluejays outscored the Aztecs 13-6 for the 79-72 victory.
Creighton's Christy Neneman, who scored six points in overtime, finished with a game-high 30 points, while Finch and Laura Spanheimer finished the game with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
SDSU takes a six-day break for the holidays before playing host to Cal State Northridge on Sat., Dec. 28, at 2:05 p.m. at Cox Arena. The Aztecs' game with the Matadors is part of a doubleheader with the SDSU men's squad, which will play Florida Atlantic at 7:05 p.m.