Dec. 18, 2004
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team outscored Cal State Fullerton 38-15 in the second half to earn its five-straight win over the Titans, 69-43, Saturday afternoon at Cox Arena. With the victory, SDSU improved to 3-3 on the season, while CS Fullerton dropped to 1-6 in 2004-05, following the non-conference contest.
"We came out in the second half with a lot of energy," SDSU head coach Jim Tomey said. "We really stepped up our defense and received outstanding play from our post players, Lindsey Casey, Ashley Cheesman and Jordie Smith. We looked at this game as a must-win situation and the girls had a solid performance. It was a great victory and gives us momentum going into Monday's game with UC Riverside."
Aztecs Lindsey Casey (Odessa, Texas) and Ashley Cheesman (Orem, Utah) both posted career-high point totals as the forwards finished with 18 and 19 points, respectively. Cheesman fell just one rebound short of tallying her second consecutive double-double with nine rebounds, while Casey and freshman Kate Eveland (Southlake, Texas) contributed seven boards each. SDSU won the rebounding battle (37-34) for the second outing in row and shot a season-high 45 percent from the field (27-for-60).
The first half featured eight ties and seven lead changes. Cal State Fullerton was up by as many as seven points at 15-8 at the 12:50 mark, before SDSU forward Jordie Smith (Ft. Collins, Colo.) sparked an 11-2 run with seven points in just under three minutes. Smith, a redshirt freshman, entered the afternoon with just one point in two career games and finished with nine points and six rebounds.
The Titans, however, retook the lead at 21-19 and held it until Cheesman scored five straight points in the final 1:18 to put the Aztecs up, 31-28, going into the locker room.
SDSU never relinquished the lead, outscoring CS Fullerton 38-15, behind Casey's 14 second-half points. The Aztecs were up by 20 points at 62-42 with 3:22 left and ended up winning by 26 points, their biggest margin of the game, 69-43.
The Aztecs logged six of their 10 steals and limited the Titans to a 23.1 shooting percentage from the field in the second half.
Cal State Fullerton was led by Amber Pruitt, who notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes of action.
San Diego State concludes a three-game homestand Monday, when the Aztecs play host to UC Riverside at 7 p.m. at Cox Arena. SDSU then heads out on the road for a Wednesday night outing at Southern Methodist in Dallas, Texas.