Feb. 28, 2004
SAN DIEGO - In a much different game than the two schools' meeting earlier this season, the San Diego State women's basketball team let a one-point lead slip away in the final seconds, falling to second-place New Mexico, 47-44, Saturday night in front of the Aztecs' largest home crowd of the season (871) at Peterson Gym. SDSU, which suffered a 76-42 loss to the Lobos last month in Albuquerque, dropped to 8-17 overall and 3-9 in Mountain West Conference play. New Mexico improved to 18-7 overall and 10-2 in the league, winning its sixth straight.
"At the moment, (the loss is) extremely painful," SDSU head coach Jim Tomey said. "We had our team ready to play and they executed and out hustled the opponent for the majority of the game and weren't able to come up with the goods. It's disappointing - there's no other words to describe it."
The Aztecs had a reversal of fortunes from its last-minute win over Air Force only two days earlier, when sophomore Veronica Shaw (Phoenix, Ariz.) hit the game-winner with under four seconds remaining in the contest. Saturday night, however, it was SDSU that owned the lead going into the final seconds as Shaw gave her team a one-point cushion, 44-43, with a lay-up at the 1:07 mark.
After the Lobos came up empty in their next possession, the Aztecs had a chance to add to their lead, but senior Nicolette McCartny (Chicago, Ill.) and freshman Michelle Elliott (Pasco, Wash.) both missed the front end of 1-and-1's in the final 13 seconds, the first time SDSU went to the foul line the entire night.
After the Elliott miss, the Lobos' Lindsey Arndt hit the game-winning shot with under three seconds left on a lay-up along the left base-line. Arndt then added a pair of free throws to close out scoring at 47-44.
Aztec freshman Courtney Fritz (Newberg, Ore.) led the team in scoring for the second straight game, finishing with 14 points, including four three-pointers to move her into fifth place on the school's single season list with 54 in 2003-04. Fritz was helped by classmate Elliott, who added three triples and tallied 13 points in all. Junior Candace Mattson (Alpine, Utah) had a team-best eight rebounds and added seven points, while McCartny, playing in her final home game as an Aztec, had two blocks and three steals.
San Diego State trailed by as many as 10 points at 20-10 with 5:58 remaining in the first half, but went into the locker room down by only four at 22-18. The Aztecs rallied to take their first lead since the opening few minutes on Ashlee Dunlap's (Los Angeles, Calif.) lay-up at 24-22 with 16:57 left.
SDSU, which opened the half with an 8-0 run, would lead by as many as four points, but five minutes later the advantage went back to the Lobos as Jenny Shetters scored her team's next seven points to put New Mexico up, 31-29.
The Aztecs retook the lead with back-to-back three pointers by Elliott and Fritz and a long jumper by Elliott from the top of the key at 42-40 with 5:09 remaining in the contest. The lead changed two more times with the final one in SDSU's favor coming on Shaw's lay-up.
New Mexico had three players finish in double-figure scoring, including Fatima Maddox, who put in a team-best 12 point on 3-for-6 shooting and 4-for-4 performance from the line.
SDSU heads on the road for its final regular season games next week, starting with a Thursday night match-up with BYU on March 4 (7 p.m. MST) and followed by a Saturday game at Utah on March 6 (3 p.m. MST).