Dec. 10, 2006
SAN DIEGO - Shanna Demus had a career-high 19 points and Quenese Davis logged her second career double-double to lead San Diego State to a 62-57 win Sunday over visiting Saint Mary's at Cox Arena. With the victory, the Aztecs have claimed four straight for the first time since the 2000-01 campaign, improving to 5-3 overall, while the Gaels dropped to 2-6 in 2006-07.
"This was a huge win for us," SDSU head coach Beth Burns said. "Saint Mary's is a good team that has played a very good schedule with their losses coming to really tough teams. Today, however, for the first time this year, we were able to play a complete game on the defensive side of the ball. We took them out of just about everything they wanted to do (offensively)."
Demus (Palmdale, Calif.) beat her previous career high in scoring by seven points with the help of a 6-for-9 shooting performance from the floor and a 6-for-7 effort at the free-throw line. Davis (Sacramento, Calif.), meanwhile, logged her first double-double since the season-opener with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while adding a team-best eight assists and four steals in 33 minutes of action. SDSU also got 12 points, five rebounds and three steals from junior Jennifer Layton (Sacramento, Calif.).
The Aztecs opened the game strong, vaulting out to an 11-point advantage, their biggest of the game, at 17-6 at the 12-minute mark. The Gaels slowly cut into the deficit and trailed by just three points going into the locker room with the help of a 7-0 run.
Saint Mary's tied the game at 24 points apiece with a three-pointer by Maija Lahde to open the second half. The Gaels then took their first and only lead of the afternoon on the second of two free-throws by Eghosa Obaiza to go up by one at 25-24. SDSU immediately responded to the lead change with a Layton jumper and following a tie at 26-26, went ahead for good, 29-26, on a Demus three-pointer.
The Aztecs led by as many as 10 points on three occasions, but were up by only three with seven seconds left in the game. Following a St. Mary's timeout, however, Davis nailed each of her two free-throw attempts to secure the 62-57 win, the Aztecs' first in the all-time series with the Gaels.
Saint Mary's was led by Serena Benavente and Mattiana Thalley, who both finished with nine points apiece.
San Diego State takes an 11-day break for final exams, before it plays host to Pepperdine, Dec. 21, at 7 p.m. at Cox Arena.