Jan. 19, 2008
LARAMIE, Wyo. - The San Diego State women's basketball team cut a 19-point halftime deficit down to just 10 against Wyoming, the No. 20 team in the country, but was unable to complete the come back as the Aztec fell to the host Cowgirls, 65-49 Saturday afternoon at Arena-Auditorium. With the loss, SDSU was dropped to 0-4 in league action and 9-7 overall, while the Cowgirls improved to 16-1 and 4-0 in the MWC.
The Aztecs were led by redshirt freshman forward Allison Duffy (Lakeside, Calif.), who scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half. Senior Shanna Demus (Palmdale, Calif.) had nine points, including a pair of three-pointers, while Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) tallied seven points. Freshman Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) logged a team-high nine rebounds, while Demus contributed four steals.
The Aztec offense struggled to get going to start the afternoon, as SDSU missed its first nine shots from the field until getting on the board at the 13:01 mark on two Morris free throws, trailing 13-2. San Diego State's first field goal of the game didn't come until the 8:30 mark when Morris nailed a three-pointer from straight away to put the visitors down by 15 at 20-5.
While SDSU may have struggled on the offensive end, the Aztecs' offensive rebounding kept them in the game owning a 12-3 edge at half, but trailing on the scoreboard by 19 going into the locker room at 37-18.
San Diego State was undeterred coming out of the break, as Duffy scored the first points on a pair of free throws. Wyoming countered with a lay-up, but Duffy once again answered with a basket of her own to get back to a 17-point deficit with 17:11 left.
The Aztecs got to within 11 points on two occasions, before finding themselves trailing by only 10 twice at both 51-41 and 53-43. A three-pointer by Justyna Podziemska restored the Cowgirl lead to 13 and SDSU was never able to get to within single-digits, falling 65-49.
Despite the loss, San Diego State grabbed a season-best 23 offensive boards to Wyoming's five. The Aztecs owned a 42-29 advantage on the glass and forced 20 Cowgirl turnovers.
Wyoming was led by Hanna Zavecz's 21 points, four steals and seven rebounds.
SDSU returns home for another Mountain West Conference contest Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Cox Arena against Brigham Young.