March 3, 2010
FT. COLLINS, COlO. - In a true team victory, the San Diego State women's basketball squad battled its way to a 73-54 win on the road at Colorado State Wednesday evening at Moby Arena. The Aztecs outscored the Rams 31-12 in the final 10 minutes of the second half and made a season-high 10 three-pointers to improve to 17-10 overall and 9-6 in conference play. CSU, meanwhile, dropped its sixth in a row to the Aztecs to fall to 13-15 and 5-9 in league action.
SDSU seniors Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) and Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) combined for 40 of the team's 73 points on the evening. Morris scored 15 of her game-high 23 in the first half, finishing with four triples and three assists. Quenese Davis, meanwhile, tallied 14 of her 17 points in the second half and also logged seven rebounds, five steals and five assists.
Junior Allison Duffy (Lakeside, Calif.) was the third Aztec in double-figure points with 11 to go with three steals. Classmate Coco Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) pulled down a career-high nine rebounds and Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) had eight boards and three blocked shots.
SDSU had five different players make a 3-point shot, had nine of 10 score at least a point and eight grab at least three rebounds. The Aztecs owned the glass (48-36) and were able to end up 10-for-22 (45.5) shooting from beyond the arc.
The Rams scored the first basket of the game on a fastbreak lay-up and also led again by a pair at 4-2. The Aztecs drew even on a Jessika Bradley (Sacramento, Calif.) lay-up and continued on a 4-0 run capped by a Morris steal and bucket to go up by four at 8-4. SDSU would later hit back-to-back triples by freshman Ashley Duffy (Lakeside, Calif.) and Morris to move its advantage to six at 16-10, heading into a Ram timeout.
The Aztecs also led by six at 18-12, but their poor shooting to start the game began to catch up with them, as Colorado State went on a 6-1 run to get to within just one at 19-18. The two sides then both went dormant on offense as no one scored for the next 5:23 until Ram Meghan Heimstra hit two free throws with 3:25 left in the first half to take a 20-19 advantage.
Morris finally broke the stalemate at the 2:56 mark with a 3-pointer and a two-point Aztec lead at 22-20. The score was tied twice more before the half as the visitors were up 27-24 heading into the locker room.
The Rams scored three times, including their first triple of the game, before San Diego State could finally muster a point on a Kalena Tutt (Long Beach, Calif.) free throw at the 16:08 mark and now trailing by three at 31-28. Junior Allison Duffy notched the team's first field goal of the half less than a minute later and the Aztecs were lucky to be down by only one at 31-30.
With the game tied at 33, the Aztecs used its full court press defense to go on a 6-0 run, but CSU's Kim Mestdagh got hot from beyond the arc, hitting three straight after going scoreless in that department in the first half to even the score again at 42.
From there, SDSU outscored the Rams 31-12 the remaining 9:55 to earn a hard-fought 73-54 win.
Colorado State had two players, Chatilla van Grinsven and Meghan Heimstra, each finish with 16 points, while Mestdagh posted 13 on 5-for-16 shooting.
San Diego State returns to Viejas Arena Saturday for Senior Day, as the Aztecs take on the Air Force Falcons to conclude the regular season at 2 p.m. PT.