Jan. 12, 2008
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team was held to a season-low 47 points, including an 0-for-11 effort from beyond the arc, as visiting New Mexico claimed a 60-47 victory Saturday afternoon in the Aztecs' 2008 conference home opener at Cox Arena. With the loss, the Aztecs fell to 9-5 overall and 0-2 in league action, while the Lobos improved to 9-6 and 1-1 in MWC play.
"Our youth really showed (this afternoon)," said SDSU head coach Beth Burns. "We had good energy and effort, but didn't make enough smart plays. I thought we did a nice job turning them over in the first half, but just never converted. They are a well coached and disciplined team and it was no fluke that they made five shots at the buzzer."
SDSU sophomore Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) scored in double-figures for the second straight outing, posting a team-high 17 points, six rebounds and three steals in 36 minutes of action. Redshirt freshman Allison Duffy (Lakeside, Calif.) had 10 points and three steals, but her front court teammate, freshman center Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.), was held to only seven points to snap a streak of eight straight outings in double-figure scoring.
The game started off as a close one, with the teams trading the lead five times in the first 12 minutes of action. At the 8:09 mark, New Mexico's Brandi Kimble made three straight baskets within a 1:26 span to give the visitors a 19-15 advantage. The Lobo lead grew to eight points on a three-pointer at 23-15, but the Aztecs trailed by only four at 28-24 heading into the locker room.
SDSU cut its deficit down to just a pair with the opening bucket of the second half on a jumper by Duffy. UNM quickly answered but it was still a four-point game until the 14:15 mark, when a pair of Lobo free throws jump started a 9-0 run to put them up by 13 points at 41-28. The Aztecs logged back-to-back baskets by Morris and senior Shanna Demus (Palmdale, Calif.) to get to within nine, but New Mexico went on another scoring run of 7-2 and the lead never fell below double-figures as the Lobos claimed a 13-point win at 60-47.
Lobo senior forward Dionne Marsh scored 14 of her game-high 21 points in the second half, while classmate Kimble had 12 points for UNM, which shot 53.5 percent from the field and made 4-of-6 three-point attempts.
Despite the loss, SDSU forced 26 New Mexico turnovers and had at least 12 steals for the 12th time in 2007-08.
The Aztecs head back out on the road for two contests next week at Utah on Wednesday evening and at No. 21 Wyoming on Saturday afternoon.