Dec. 28, 2006
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team pulled off its sixth-straight win Thursday afternoon, defeating Brown University, 63-52, in the first game of the San Diego Surf `N Slam Classic at Cox Arena. With the victory, the Aztecs (7-3) advance to Saturday's championship against No. 17/16 George Washington (10-2), which upset No. 11/10 Georgia, 66-54, in the second half of the doubleheader.
"We were fortunate to win," SDSU head coach Beth Burns said. "The credit goes to Brown, because they did a fantastic job not allowing us to convert their turnovers into points. They did a great job at boxing out and only giving us one look (at the basket). Their defense affected our pace and we couldn't really get anyone going early. Kate (Eveland) gave us a big lift in the first half and Jennifer (Layton) dug her heels in the second half and made some big shots."
SDSU had three players finish with double-figure points against Brown to even the all-time series between the two schools at one game apiece. Junior Jennifer Layton (Sacramento, Calif.) had a team-high 17 points with 15 of those coming in the second half. Layton was helped by junior Kate Eveland (Southlake, Texas), who tallied a season-best 14 points on 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Freshman Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) added 11 points, six assists and six steals in 36 minutes of action. Davis was one of three Aztecs with five or more steals in the game for SDSU, which fell one short of its season high with 19.
After the Aztecs scored the first basket of the game, the Bears tallied the next two and added one more on a free-throw for a 5-2 advantage. SDSU responded with a lay up by freshman Lauren Hoisington (Las Vegas, Nev.) and the first of Eveland's four triples to move back into the lead 7-5. After a tie at 7-7, the Aztecs remained ahead for the rest of the first half, going into the locker room up by three at 24-21.
SDSU saw its advantage cut to as few as one point on three occasions in the second half, but used a 6-0 run starting with just over five and a half minutes left to play to build an eight-point cushion at 51-43. The Aztecs finished out the game by successfully converting a pair of three-point plays and Layton added a late jumper with 17 seconds left to give SDSU its largest lead of the afternoon at 13 points, before finally securing the 63-52 win.
Brown, which fell to 2-9 on the season, was led by forward Ashley King-Bischof, who had a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The final two contests of the 2006 San Diego Surf `N Slam Classic will take place Saturday, Dec. 30, beginning at 2 p.m. with the consolation game featuring Georgia and Brown. The San Diego State-George Washington championship match up follows at 4 p.m. at Cox Arena.