Jan. 21, 2006
PROVO, Utah - The San Diego State women's basketball team raced out to an early lead, but was unable to hold it against the conference's top team, as BYU finished out the first half with a 13-2 run and went on to claim a 64-39 victory Saturday afternoon at the Marriott Center. With the loss, the Aztecs remained winless in league action, dropping to 0-6 and 3-13 overall, while the 23rd-ranked Cougars improved to 15-1 and 5-0 in MWC action.
SDSU got 10 points from both Michelle Strawberry (Corona, Calif.) and Erin Jackson (Sparks, Nev.). Jackson doubled her previous career best of five points, while Strawberry scored in double figures for the 13th time in 16 contests in 2005-06. Sophomore Shanna Demus (Palmdale, Calif.) added nine points, while Desiree Johnson (Kahuku, Hawaii) was the Aztecs' leader on the boards with six.
The Aztecs opened the game with the hot hand, as a Johnson lay-up and a Strawberry three-pointer gave the visitor's an early 5-0 lead. The SDSU defense kept BYU off the scoreboard until the 16-minute mark, when Dani Kubik made the first of two free throws. Kubik followed the free throw with a lay-up, but the Aztecs maintained an advantage until just over eight minutes into the game when a BYU three-pointer knotted the score at 16 points apiece.
The Cougars took the lead at 20-16 and finished the half with a 13-2 scoring run to go into the locker room up 33-18.
BYU extended its lead to 18 early in the second half, but SDSU didn't let the game get away, putting together a 10-1 run with points from four different players to close to within nine at 38-29. The Aztecs kept the deficit to nine on two more occasions at 41-32 and 43-34, but couldn't get any closer, eventually falling 64-39.
SDSU shot just 22.7 percent from the field and was outrebounded by a 43-26 margin.
The Cougars were led by Nancy Seljaas' 15 points and Mallary Gillespie's 12 points. SDSU limited the conference's leading scorer Ambrosia Anderson, who averaged almost 20 points a contest, to 12 points, including only two in the first half.
SDSU rounds out the first round of Mountain West Conference play at New Mexico on Wednesday (7 p.m. MT), followed by a Saturday afternoon game back in San Diego against Wyoming at 2 p.m.