Dec. 8, 2009
SAN DIEGO - Pepperdine's Jazmine Jackson hit the winning lay-up with less than a second left in overtime to hand the San Diego State women's basketball team a 62-61 loss Tuesday evening at Viejas Arena. The Aztecs, playing their first overtime outing since 2006, dropped to 4-4 on the year, while the Waves improved to 6-4 overall.
"We didn't perform consistently all night long and they played very hard and hurt us on the offensive glass," SDSU head coach Beth Burns said. "We had some errors down the stretch that really hurt us, credit to Pepperdine for capitalizing on them."
San Diego State trailed for most of the game, as the visitors got off to a 4-0 lead to start and were up by nine at halftime, 34-25. The Waves' advantage grew to as many as 11 points on their first bucket coming out of the locker room.
Facing a double-figure deficit for the second game in a row, the Aztecs finally began to pick up steam, using an 8-0 run to get to within one point at the 10:45 mark and eventually took the lead following two straight lay-ups in the paint at 48-47.
Pepperdine took back the lead on its very next basket and the game was tied for the fifth time at 52-52 with just over three and a half minutes left. Neither side was able to convert until the final minute, when Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) hit a falling jumper along the baseline and was fouled with 48 seconds remaining. Morris, however, missed the ensuing free throw, which would have put SDSU up by three points, as Wave Katie Menton sent the game into overtime on a basket with 20 seconds left and the score tied at 54-54.
San Diego State fell behind by four points with 2:16 remaining in the five-minute overtime period, but rallied back to take the lead at 61-60 on a Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) lay-up and Morris' only three-pointer of the game. Pepperdine missed a jumper on its next trip up the floor, which was rebounded by Johnson, but Morris couldn't hold on to a long outlet pass at the other end and the Waves retook possession with 25 seconds remaining.
Coming out of a timeout, Jackson waited until the clock went under seven seconds and drove from the top of the key, ran around a crowd of Aztec defenders and managed to drive in for the winning lay-up on the right side of the basket to secure the 62-61 victory.
The SDSU junior duo of Johnson and Allison Duffy (Lakeside, Calif.) each finished the night with 17 points on a combined 16-for-30 shooting performance from the floor. Morris posted 13 points, five assists and three steals, while fellow senior Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) had seven assists and scored 10 points to become the second Aztec this season, and the 18th overall, to reach the 1,000-career point mark.
San Diego State ended the game outshooting the Waves from the field (42.6-37.7), but Pepperdine owned a +9 advantage on the glass, bolstered by 20-14 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Aztecs also made just 1-of-6 attempts at the charity stripe, including an 0-for-2 mark in overtime.
The Waves, who ended SDSU's 18-game regular-season home win streak, were led by Miranda Ayim's 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocked shots, while Jackson finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
The Aztecs continue their two-game homestand Friday, as they play host to Long Beach State at 7 p.m. at Viejas Arena.