Jan. 14, 2007
SAN DIEGO - Forward Shanna Demus (Palmdale, Calif.) scored 17 of her game-high 20 points in the second half to lead the San Diego State women's basketball team to its first conference victory, 60-51, over Air Force Saturday at Cox Arena. With the win, the Aztecs improved to 8-6 overall and 1-2 in league action, while the Falcons dropped to 4-11 and 0-4 in MWC play.
Demus began the day 1-for-6 from the field, but rebounded with a 5-for-6 performance in the second half. The junior matched her career high with 20 points set earlier this season against Pepperdine, while adding a trio of three-pointers and a 5-for-6 effort at the line. Demus was helped offensively by freshman Quenese Davis' (Sacramento, Calif.) 10 points, her third-straight double-figure scoring outing in as many games. Davis also tallied eight assists and eight rebounds, while senior Desiree Johnson (Kahuku, Hawaii) pulled down a team-high nine boards and four blocked shots.
The two schools' first of two meetings this season included eight lead changes, five of which came in the first half, and 10 tie scores. Each side had a four-point advantage at one point in the first half, but the game was knotted at 30 points apiece at the break.
After trailing on four occasions in the opening minutes coming out of the locker room, SDSU broke a 37-37 tie on a pair of Kate Eveland (Southlake, Texas) free throws with 12:39 left following an Air Force technical foul. A Demus layup doubled the Aztec advantage at 41-37, but the SDSU lead didn't get beyond six until less than a minute left in the contest when the team made five of its six free throws to secure the 60-51 victory.
Air Force's Dawn Higginbothan had a team-best 14 points off the bench, while Pamela Findlay added 11 in the loss.
San Diego State heads to Wyoming Wednesday for a 7 p.m. MST match-up with the Cowgirls, before returning home for another conference game against Colorado State Saturday at 2 p.m. PST.