Feb. 18, 2006
FT.WORTH, Texas - TCU had five players score in double-figures as the Lady Frogs defeated the visiting San Diego State women's basketball team, 80-49, Saturday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. With the loss, the Aztecs fell to 3-20 overall and 0-13 in conference play, while the Lady Frogs improved to 14-9 and 8-4 in league action.
Senior Veronica Shaw (Phoenix, Ariz.) had 10 of her team-high 12 points in the first half, adding six rebounds and four assists before fouling out. Two of SDSU's season leaders in scoring, senior Michelle Strawberry (Corona, Calif.) and junior Desiree Johnson (Kahuku, Hawaii), were each held without a point in the first 20 minutes of action. Johnson would later foul out at the 16:15 mark of the second half with just two points and four boards, while Strawberry ended with 10 points, her 18th game this season in double-figures.
Aztec junior Ijlal Barnes (San Diego, Calif.) had a career-high seven rebounds and two assists, while sophomore Kate Eveland (Southlake, Texas) tallied six points and four assists in her second trip back to her home state of Texas.
TCU got a quick lay-up just 14 seconds into the game from Adrianne Ross, but SDSU answered with a three-pointer from Demus for a 3-2 advantage. Another Ross lay-up swung the lead back to the host, who went up by three points on three occasions before Shaw hit the first of two consecutive triples to knot the game at 10 points apiece.
The Aztecs took their largest lead of the night on Shaw's next three-pointer at 13-10, but the SDSU offense was dormant for the next 5:56, as TCU went on a 17-0 run and was up by 14 at 27-13. Shaw's offense would end the dry spell as the senior put in two straight scores with one coming on a lay-up and the other on a jumper from the free-throw line at 27-17 and 6:51 remaining in the first half.
The Lady Frogs outscored the Aztecs 11-7 the rest of the way and went into the locker room up by 14 at 38-24.
Johnson kicked off the second half with her only points of the night on a lay-up to pull SDSU to within 12 points at 38-26. TCU went on a 10-2 run to increase its lead out to 20 points at 48-28, and the Aztecs would get back to a 16-point deficit, but would go on to fall by 31 points, 80-49.
SDSU outrebounded TCU (39-36) and made seven three-pointers, but went to the line 25 fewer times than the host school and shot just 35.3 percent from the field. The Lady Frogs were led by Ross' 16 points, while Vanessa Clementino had 15
The loss came after poor weather conditions in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area caused the Aztecs' original flight out of San Diego to be canceled Friday evening. SDSU traveled to TCU Saturday morning and arrived in Ft. Worth just over two hours before tip-off, which was pushed back from 2 to 7 p.m. CST.
SDSU heads back to San Diego to round out its 2006 Mountain West Conference home schedule, as the Aztecs play host to BYU on Wednesday at 7 p.m., followed by New Mexico for Senior Day on Saturday at 2 p.m.