Nov. 14, 2008
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team won its season-opener for the second consecutive year, defeating visiting Northwestern State, 67-47, Friday night at Cox Arena. With the victory, the Aztecs improved to 1-0 on the year, while the Lady Demons dropped to 0-1 following the two schools' first-ever meeting.
SDSU had four players finish in double-figure scoring and combined for 15 blocked shots, the most ever by a Mountain West Conference team in the league's 10-year history.
"We weren't sharp offensively and we shouldn't have turned the ball over to that degree, but the most important thing is that we came out of this 1-0," said SDSU head coach Beth Burns.
Aztec sophomore center Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) posted her fourth career double-double with a game-high 14 points and 12 rebounds to go with five blocked shots, which tie for 10th in the SDSU single-game record book. Sophomore Jerica Williams (San Diego, Calif.), playing in her first game in the Red & Black, posted nine points and 14 rebounds, 11 of which came in the first half. Williams' 14 boards are the most by an Aztec since December 2003.
Junior guard Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) added 13 points and eight assists. Sophomore Coco Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) had 11 points and senior Jennifer Layton-Bailes (Sacramento, Calif.), playing in her first game since 2007, tallied 10 points and three blocks.
"I'm really proud of Jerica Williams," Burns said. "As an off-guard coming in, she was all over the defensive glass and did a lot of good things in the backcourt for us. She and (Paris) and Jennifer Layton-Bailes, who came off the bench, did a lot for us to stay in the game when things weren't going really well."
San Diego State never trailed in the game, going up by four points on three occasions, including at 12-8 with just over minutes left in the first half. The Aztecs increased that lead to six on a layup by Layton-Bailes, but the two sides failed to record a point over the next four minutes. Lady Demon Britany Kinlaw broke the stalemate with a jumper to put her team down by just four points at 14-10. Two Johnson free throws sparked an 8-0 SDSU run and the home team went into the locker room up by 13 at 28-15.
Northwestern State got to within 10 on three occasions coming out of the break, but the Aztecs matched the Lady Demons bucket for bucket, pulling away with a 20-point advantage at 49-29. SDSU never looked back, coasting to an eventual 20-point, 67-47, victory.
The Aztecs forced 30 Lady Demon turnovers and had 50 rebounds, the team's most in a single outing since 2000, when SDSU also had 50 against Northern Arizona.
Northwestern State was led by Courtney Shead's 10 points and Kinlaw's eight rebounds.
San Diego State opens a six-game road swing this Sunday, when the Aztecs travel to Long Beach State to take on the 49ers for the first time since 1997, at 2 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid. Live audio and video will be available on SDSU's official website, www.goaztecs.com.