Jan. 9, 2010
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team claimed its 11th consecutive home conference victory with a 65-50 win over visiting Wyoming Saturday afternoon at Viejas Arena. The Aztecs have now won each of their last seven regular-season conference games and have come out on top in six straight overall this season, moving to 10-4 and 2-0 in MWC action. The Cowgirls, who were the last league school to defeat SDSU on its home floor in 2008, dropped to 10-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
"(Wyoming) runs a great offense and we just tried to disrupt the rhythm of what they wanted to do," said Aztec head coach Beth Burns, who recorded her 299th career victory.
"In the second half, I was pleased with everything (we did). They had five three's in the first half and only one in the second. We had 11 turnovers in the first half and only three in the second half. We played smart basketball and we looked like we had experienced guards, which is what we have. Our guards controlled the tempo of the game."
San Diego State got solid outings from each of its five starters, as senior Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) notched her second consecutive 20-point scoring effort with a game-high 22 points, including a 4-for-9 performance from beyond the arc, and five assists. Two Aztecs notched double-doubles with junior Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds and senior Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) posting 11 points and a season-best 10 boards.
SDSU junior Jessika Bradley (Sacramento, Calif.) fell one rebound short of becoming the third Aztec in double-figures with nine boards and eight points, while classmate Coco Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) added five points and five assists.
Both sides started the game red hot from beyond the arc, as the two teams combined for six 3-pointers in the first nine made field-goals. There were also 10 lead changes within the first seven minutes of play until three consecutive Morris baskets started a 14-0 SDSU run to put the host ahead 29-16 at the 7:44 mark.
Wyoming would get its deficit down to single digits four times before the break, but Morris' fourth triple of the first half put the Aztecs up 39-27 heading into the locker room.
Outrebounded 23-7 in the first half, the Cowgirls got three boards within the first two minutes and came to within eight on a pair of free throws and later, trailed by seven on an Emma Langford triple at 41-34.
The seven points would be as close as the visitors would get, however, as four different Aztecs contributed at least one basket in a five-minute span to put them ahead by 16 points and later posted their largest lead of the afternoon at 17 at 61-44 with 7:20 left. Wyoming made a late run, getting to within 11, but SDSU went on to win by 15 points, 65-50.
The Aztecs ended the game with a 41-29 advantage on the boards, committed only three second-half turnovers and finished the outing with a 7-for-16 mark from beyond the arc.
The Cowgirls were led by Langford's 21 points, while Hillary Carlson chipped in 17 for a team that entered the afternoon averaging over 70 points a contest.
San Diego State plays its second consecutive conference home game on Wednesday, as the Aztecs play host to UNLV for a 7 p.m. tip-off at Viejas Arena.