Jan. 26, 2008
LAS VEGAS - Sophomore Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) converted seven consecutive three-point attempts and scored a career-high 35 points to lead the San Diego State women's basketball team to its second straight win, as the Aztecs defeated host UNLV, 75-55, Saturday evening at Cox Pavilion. With the victory, SDSU claimed its first league road game since 2005 to improve to 11-7 and 2-4 in conference play, while the Lady Rebels fell to 6-12 and 2-3 in the MWC.
After missing her first three-point attempt of the night, Morris hit her next seven, as the guard notched the Aztecs' first 30-point scoring outing since 1999. Morris finished the evening 7-for-9 from beyond the arc and 13-for-21 from the field, beating her previous career high for scoring by 10 points. Her seven three-pointers trailed the San Diego State school record by one and nearly doubled her previous career best of four set earlier this season against Quinnipiac.
In addition to the 35 points, Morris added five rebounds, three assists and three of the team's seven steals on the night. She was helped offensively by redshirt fresman Allison Duffy's (Lakeside, Calif.) eight points, while freshman Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) and sophomore Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) each chipped in seven. Senior Shanna Demus (Palmdale, Calif.) had a career-best eight assists and tied Morris for the team lead in rebounding with five.
Through the first four and a half minutes, San Diego State attempted 10 shots making just four, but did its job on the defensive end of the floor, forcing six UNLV turnovers for the early 8-4 advantage. The Aztecs maintained a slight edge before putting together a 7-0 run with a Morris three-pointer and two straight baskets from Demus. The Lady Rebels ended their drought with three free throws, as UNLV trailed by seven despite attempting only nine shots from the field through the first 12 and a half minutes.
SDSU caught fire from beyond the arc in the second part of the first half. Morris hit five in a row to go with Kate Eveland's (Southlake, Texas) triple at the 3:44 mark, as the Aztecs were up by 11 at 38-27 heading into the locker room.
Morris continued her assault from three-point land, making two more in the first three minutes coming out of the break to put her team ahead by 17 at 48-31 with 16:48 remaining. San Diego State increased its lead to as many as 27 points on two occasions, including at 70-43, before winning for the first time in Las Vegas since 1997, 75-55.
The Aztecs ended the evening shooting just over 48 percent from the field and made nine three-pointers, a team season-high, on 14 attempts (64.3 percent).
UNLV was led by Sequoia Holmes's 18 points and Shamela Hampton's 15 points. The Lady Rebels had 20 first-half turnovers, before ending the game with 26.
SDSU will play a single game next week when it plays host to Colorado State Wednesday at Cox Arena beginning at 7 p.m.