Jan. 5, 2011
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team held visiting TCU without a field goal for the final six minutes of the game, cutting a 14-point second-half deficit down to only a pair, but the Aztecs came up just short, falling 49-47 in both teams' 2011 conference openers. With the loss, SDSU dropped to 6-7 on the season, while the preseason league favorite Horned Frogs improved to 9-6 following the Wednesday night contest at Viejas Arena.
The Aztecs were led offensively by junior forward Kalena Tutt (Long Beach, Calif.), who had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Seniors Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) and Coco Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) and junior Courtney Clements (Long Beach, Calif.) all tallied nine points apiece, while forward Jessika Bradley (Sacramento, Calif.) had seven rebounds, five assists and five blocked shots.
San Diego State had the hot hand early in the first half, racing out to a 10-point lead at 19-9 by making eight of its first 11 shots from the field. TCU answered back with a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to tie the score at 19-19. The two sides were knotted once more at 23, before the Horned Frogs earned their first advantage of the night on a pair of free throws.
Both teams went scoreless over the next four minutes, before TCU got a jumper and a lay-up to carry a six-point lead at 29-23 into the locker room.
The Aztecs cut their deficit in half with three free throws after the break, but the Horned Frogs used six baskets in the paint and raced out to a 14-point advantage at 45-31.
From there, San Diego State held TCU to only one field goal the remainder of the half and came all the way back to just a two-point deficit at 49-47 capped by 3-pointers from Johnson and junior Sajoyia Griffin (San Antonio, Texas). With only a minute left to play, the Horned Frogs stayed on the offensive side with the help of two consecutive offensive rebounds, before the Aztecs were forced to foul to put TCU on the line.
Horned Frog Helena Sverrisdottir, however, missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and SDSU grabbed the rebound before heading into a timeout with just seven seconds remaining to set up a final play. The Aztecs got the ball in the hands of Davis, who raced down the court, but her long distance pass intended for Johnson was intercepted by Sverrisdottir who wrapped up the ball as the buzzer sounded for the 49-47 TCU victory.
San Diego State held TCU, a team that averaged over 72 points an outing, to just 49 points and a 30.8 shooting percentage from the field, including a 1-for-6 mark from beyond the arc. The Aztecs shot over 40 percent and posted a season-best 12 blocked shots, but were outrebounded by the visitors by a minus-19 margin, including a 20-3 deficit on the offensive glass.
Horned Frog Starr Crawford led her squad both offensively with 16 points and on the boards with 13 in the winning effort.
The Aztecs continue MWC play on Saturday, when the team plays host to Utah at 2:30 p.m. PT at Viejas Arena. The game will be televised live on The Mtn.