Dec. 28, 2005
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team dropped their opening game of the San Diego Surf `N Slam tournament, falling to Loyola College, 52-43, Wednesday night at Cox Arena. With the loss, the Aztecs fell to 2-7 on the season, while the Greyhounds improved to 6-3 in 2005-06.
The Aztecs were led by Michelle Strawberry (Corona, Calif.), who scored a team-high 12 points, marking the eighth time this season that the senior has reached double-figure in scoring. Freshman Tamika Lipford (Oceanside, Calif.) and senior Veronica Shaw (Phoenix, Ariz.) each added eight points. Shaw led the team on the boards with seven and Strawberry chipped in four assists and three steals in 40 minutes of action.
The two sides battled for control the entire first half as there were 11 lead changes and no team was up by more than five points. The Greyhounds carried a one-point advantage at 20-19 into the locker room, but the Aztecs regained the lead at the 16:29 mark of the second half on Lipford's lay-up at 27-26.
The Lipford basket, however, would be SDSU's last points for an eight-minute stretch as the Greyhounds went up by as many as eight points before Strawberry could end the dryspell with a lay-up with 7:44 left in the game.
The Aztecs would get to within four points on two occasions, before Loyola pulled away with an 11-6 run in the final four minutes to claim the 52-43 victory.
The Greyhounds were led by Lauren Troupe's 19 points, while Jackie Valderas had 13 rebounds.
In earlier action at Cox Arena, Auburn defeated UC Davis, 79-54, behind Nitasha Brown's 19 points and five three-pointers.
SDSU will face UC Davis for the second time this season, marking the first time since 1992-93 that the Aztecs have played a non-conference opponent twice in one year. SDSU and UC Davis will meet in the consolation game on Friday at 5:30 p.m., while Auburn and Loyola play for the San Diego Surf `N Slam championship at 7:30 p.m.