Dec. 28, 2009
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team rallied from a nine-point deficit for the second time in as many games, edging visiting Wake Forest, 63-62, on Monday evening at Viejas Arena. With the victory, the Aztecs, improved to 7-4 overall, while the Demon Deacons dropped to 8-4 on the year. SDSU will take on Auburn, which defeated Valparaiso 51-50, in the championship game of the fifth annual San Diego Surf `N Slam Classic on Wednesday.
"We're thrilled with the opportunity to defend our Surf `N Slam championship and be in the 7 p.m. game on Wednesday night," Aztec head coach Beth Burns said. "It guarantees that we're on the positive side of the winning ledger going into conference play. We really locked in knowing how important this tournament is to erase what we did at Thanksgiving. Now, we know we're halfway there."
SDSU was led offensively by the senior guard tandem of Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) and Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.). Davis, the reigning MWC player of the week, extended her streak of consecutive 20-point scoring outings to three, notching 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting. The starting point guard has five games with over 20 points this season and also tallied eight rebounds against the Demon Deacons.
Morris, meanwhile, finished with 18 points, and had three steals in playing all 40 minutes. Aztec junior Jessika Bradley (Sacramento, Calif.) tallied eight rebounds and a career-best four blocked shots, all of which came in the second half.
Wake Forest hit each of its first three shots and raced out to the early 8-0 lead. The Aztecs countered with a Davis three-pointer and jumper to get back to within three before eventually knotting the score at 10 apiece. The Demon Deacons came out of the tie with a field goal less than 30 seconds later and maintained the lead the entire first half, going up by as many as nine at 32-23, before the Aztecs got back to within six at the break, 36-30.
SDSU's first lead of the night didn't come until the 16:09 mark of the second half when Morris hit a lay-up for the one-point advantage at 39-28. The two sides traded leads two more times with the Aztecs looking to gain control with a seven-point lead with just 2:34 left to play.
Wake Forest went on a 6-2 run to get to within three and had a chance to tie it when Brooke Thomas was fouled on a 3-point attempt with six seconds left. Thomas, however, made just two of three free throws and SDSU was able to in-bound the ball and run out the clock to preserve the 63-62 win.
The Aztecs ended the game shooting 51.1 percent from the field, including 52.4 mark in the second half. Wake Forest made just 26-of-68 field-goal attempts, including a 1-for-16 mark from beyond the arc, but outrebounded the host 25-13 on the offensive glass.
The Demon Deacons were led by Secily Ray's 24 points, while Brittany Waters had 12 points and a team-best eight rebounds.
SDSU will be looking for its second consecutive Surf `N Slam title when it takes on Auburn in the championship game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT. Wake Forest and Valparaiso will tangle in the consolation game at 5 p.m. Both contests will be played at Viejas Arena.