Dec. 21, 2009
LOS ANGELES - The San Diego State women's basketball team used a stifling defense and a career offensive performance from Quenese Davis to erase an early nine-point deficit and cruise to a 75-54 victory over Loyola Marymount Monday at Gersten Pavilion. With the win, the Aztecs defeated the Lions for the second year in a row, improving to 6-4 on the season, while the home team dropped to 6-6 in 2009-10.
Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) notched her fourth 20-point scoring outing of the season and second in as many games, finishing with a career-high 26 points, including 17 in the first half, on 10-for-13 shooting. She was one of four Aztecs in double-figure points, as senior Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) tallied 16 points all in the second half, junior Jessika Bradley (Sacramento, Calif.) had 14 points and junior Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) contributed 10.
Davis also had four steals, five assists and tied for the team lead with Bradley in rebounds with eight apiece. Morris, meanwhile, finished with a game-high seven assists and ended the night 8-for-11 shooting from the floor.
The host Lions got off to the quick start, going up by four points at 4-0, before building a nine-point advantage on a three-pointer at the 12:48 mark at 15-6. The Aztecs closed the gap in a hurry, as a Davis triple started a 9-2 run to get to within a pair at 17-15 and then later at 19-17.
Coming out of a media timeout, guard Kim Spinardi (Merced, Calif.) hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key for SDSU's first lead of the night at 20-19. A Bradley lay-up followed, but LMU knotted the game at 22 points apiece.
From there the Aztec defense took over, limiting the Lions to only four points in the final 5:58. Davis was just as dominating on the offensive side, as the senior scored 17 of the team's 26 first-half points to give her squad a 10-point halftime edge, 36-26.
The LMU drought continued coming out of the break with the home team only hitting one field goal within the first 7:18 as San Diego State built an 18-point lead at 49-31. The Aztecs would push their advantage out to as many as 23 on six occasions, before coming away with the 75-54 victory.
SDSU ended the night shooting a season-best 60 percent from the field (33-for-55), hitting 64.3 percent in the second half. The Aztecs also owned a 37 to 24 advantage on the boards and tallied another season-high with 23 assists.
The Lions were led by Alex Cowling's 21 points, while Melanie Ysaguirre had 10 points in the loss.
SDSU returns to Viejas Arena for its final two non-conference contests of the season, when the Aztecs play host to the annual San Diego Surf `N Slam, Dec. 28 and 30.