March 7, 2003
FORT COLLINS - Colorado State avenged an earlier loss to the San Diego State women's basketball team with a 81-49 victory Friday in the regular season finale for both squads at Moby Arena. With the loss, the Aztecs dropped to 9-17 overall and 3-11 in league play, while the Rams improved to 17-11 overall and 8-6 in Mountain West Conference action.
SDSU freshman Ashlee Dunlap (Los Angeles, Calif.) led the team with her conference-best ninth double-double of the season, pouring in a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Ashonda Williams (Crockett, Calif.) had eight points in her final regular season contest, while classmate Jamey Cox (Waterloo, Iowa) was held to just one second half three-pointer.
SDSU opened the game by missing on their first four field goal attempts, before Dunlap hit a jumper at the 14:41 mark to put the Aztecs behind 8-4. Dunlap, who had made both of her two free throw attempts earlier in the game, scored the team's next two buckets, before teammate Maggie Sauls (Borger, Texas) came off the bench with a lay-up and her first career three pointer to get the team back to within two points at 13-11.
San Diego State took its first and only lead of the game on a three-pointer from the top of the key by Tynisha King (Moreno Valley, Calif.) at 14-13, but CSU senior Ashley Augspurger scored the game's next seven points to put the Rams back into the lead at 20-14.
Colorado State finished the half on a 24-5 run over the final 11 minutes with the only SDSU points coming on a Dunlap lay-up, a jumper from the left baseline by sophomore Heather Wolf (Stayton, Ore.) and a free throw from Nicolette McCartny (Chicago, Ill.).
After going into the locker room up 37-19, the Rams scored the first seven points, before Dunlap broke the dry spell with a lay-up at the 17:33 mark. Colorado State would go up by as many as 31 points three times with the Aztecs then cutting the deficit to as little as 25. The Rams' lead, however, would prove to be too much as they avenged an earlier 60-47 loss in San Diego, with a 81-49 win in Fort Collins.
The Rams had five players finish in double-figure scoring, including Augspurger and Katie Borton, who each chipped in 16 points. CSU point guard Vanessa Espinoza had eight assists and Jackie Campbell tallied seven rebounds, as the Rams committed just 11 turnovers and had 12 steals.
The Aztecs head to Las Vegas, Nev., Monday evening for the 2003 Mountain West Conference Championship, March 12-15. SDSU, the No. 7 seed, will play Wednesday night at 6 p.m. PST, against the winner of this Saturday's final conference game between BYU and New Mexico, which starts at 2 p.m. MST in Albuquerque.