March 6, 2010
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team scored a season-high 87 points in defeating visiting Air Force, 87-52, in both teams' regular season finales Saturday at Viejas Arena. With the win, the Aztecs finished in a tie for third place in the Mountain West Conference standings with a 10-6 record, while improving to 18-10 overall in 2009-10. Air Force, meanwhile, was on the losing end for the sixth-straight time in the series and ended up winless in the MWC for the second year in a row (0-16, 3-26).
"I thought our last three games were great team wins, which will give us momentum going into the tournament," SDSU senior Jené Morris said. "Everyone has been working together, which is how we're going to be successful. Today almost everyone was on the scoreboard and that's what we're going to need to go far in the postseason."
In their final regular-season home game, Aztecs Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) and Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) combined for 40 points, eight steals and eight assists. Davis made her first seven shots of the game to finish with 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and added three steals, five assists and five boards. Morris, meanwhile, had 12 of her 17 points in the second half and recorded a game-high five steals.
The team's third senior, Kim Spinardi (Merced, Calif.), made her first career start and posted three assists, a 3-pointer and a steal in 23 minutes. Two other Aztecs ended up in double-figures points, as junior Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) had 14 and classmate Allison Duffy (Lakeside, Calif.) chipped in 10 and three steals.
San Diego State led from the opening tip for just the second time all season, racing out to a quick nine-point margin at the 13:28 mark. Air Force then used back-to-back lay-ups by Raimee Beck and a jumper by Alicia Leipprandt to cut its deficit to only three at 13-10. A Davis three-pointer returned the advantage to six, but the Falcons answered with two buckets of their own to remain down by only four near the mid-point of the half.
The Aztecs got three consecutive lay-ups in the paint to move it back to a 10-point advantage and used their strength inside to own a 46-26 halftime lead.
Air Force got to within 19 at the 16:11 mark coming out of the break, but SDSU reeled off a 17-0 run from there and went on to win by its largest margin of the season, 87-52.
The Aztecs ended the afternoon shooting 56.9 percent from the field, logged 25 assists and 14 steals and owned a +13 margin on the boards. SDSU's 87 points are its' most-ever in a Mountain West Conference game, beating its previous high of 86 vs. Colorado State in 2008, and most overall since scoring 91 vs. Navy in 2007.
The Falcons were led by Beck's 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting in the loss.
San Diego State earned the No. 3 seed at next week's Mountain West Conference Championships in Las Vegas, Nev., and will face the winner of the Wyoming-UNLV game at 7 p.m. PT at the Thomas and Mack Center.