Feb. 3, 2010
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The San Diego State women's basketball team used its advantage inside to outscore host Air Force 48-14 in the paint, finishing the first round of league action with a 68-48 victory Wednesday evening at Clune Arena. With the win, the Aztecs kept pace atop the Mountain West Conference standings, moving to 6-2 in league play and 14-6 overall, while the Falcons dropped to 0-8 and 3-18 in 2009-10.
"We have three front-range (conference) games, in Air Force, Wyoming and Colorado State, that are very difficult places to play," SDSU head coach Beth Burns said. "So we tightened the rotation and depended on our bench to stay fresh.
"Air Force does a nice job in its match-ups. I was pleased that Jessika (Bradley) and Paris (Johnson), along with Kalena (Tutt), got in there and were able to finish."
Nine of the 10 Aztecs to see action scored at least two points, with the lone exception being junior guard Coco Davis (Sacramento, Calif.), who notched a career and team season-high 10 assists on the night to go with six rebounds. Davis' 10 helpers were two more than her previous career best of eight last year in a win over UNLV, and marks the first time an SDSU player has reached double-figures since her sister, Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.), had 10 assists vs. TCU on Feb. 28, 2009.
Junior Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) had her best offensive performance in MWC action, scoring 17 points and hauling in a team-high eight rebounds. Her front court teammate, Jessika Bradley (Sacramento, Calif.), was the only other Aztec in double-figure points with 13, as the pair combined to make 13 of their 20 shot attempts.
Quenese Davis, who tallied a career-high three blocked shots, and classmate senior Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) each had nine points apiece.
The Falcons scored the first basket of the game on a 3-pointer by Desiree Wilson, but the Aztecs countered with five consecutive field goals in the paint to go up by seven at 10-3. The SDSU lead would get into double-figures following back-to-back fastbreak lay-ups off of steals by Quenese Davis and Ashley Duffy (Lakeside, Calif.) and grew to as many as 18 points with 3:33 left in the half.
The visitor's advantage was only 13 heading into the locker room at 36-23, and Air Force continued to chip away out of the break, getting to within 10 at 40-30 at the 16:42 mark. That would be as close as the Falcons would get, however, as the Aztecs utilized a 12-2 run over a near five-minute period to go up by 23 points before closing out the 68-48 victory.
SDSU ended the evening shooting 54.7 percent from the field, including 58.6 percent in the first half, while outrebounding Air Force 40-25 and compiling 22 assists on 29 baskets.
The Falcons were led by freshman Kelsey Berger, who was 8-for-16 for a team-best 18 points and five rebounds in 35 minutes of action.
San Diego State starts the second round of league action Saturday with a 12:30 p.m. PT tip-off at Viejas Arena, when the New Mexico Lobos come to San Diego for a nationally-televised contest (The Mtn.).