Nov. 14, 2011
For the fourth time in the last five years, the San Diego State women's basketball team started the season off on the right foot, defeating visiting Arkansas-Pine Bluff 86-43 Monday at Viejas Arena. With the victory, the Aztecs moved to 1-0 overall, while the Golden Lions dropped to 0-2, following the first-ever meeting between the two sides.
"Everyone worked really hard to do what we needed them to do," said SDSU head coach Beth Burns, who recorded her 325th career win. "The strength of our team is on the perimeter, but we need our post game and we thought this would be a good opportunity to get them touches and help them gain confidence and balance. We still have some things to work on, but I thought we did really well playing against the zone (defense) for the first time."
SDSU had three players finish with double-figure points, including leading scorer Courtney Clements (Long Beach, Calif.), who notched 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting for her third career 20-point outing as an Aztec. Redshirt sophomore Kiyana Stamps (Moreno Valley, Calif.) added 17 points in her first contest since 2009, while junior co-captain Gabrielle Clark (Los Angeles, Calif.) contributed a career-high 12 points by making four of her seven attempts.
Forward Chairese Culberson (Oakland, Calif.) hauled in a team-high nine rebounds and point guard Ahjalee Harvey (Mountain View, Calif.) tallied seven assists in their collegiate debuts. Sophomore Melissa Sweat (Bakersfield, Calif.) led the defensive effort with four of the Aztecs' 14 steals on the night.
San Diego State never trailed in the game, going up by 13 points at the 12:29 mark of the first half. The Lady Lions used a pair of triples from Markita Quarles and a jumper from Jenise Gentry to cut their deficit down to only seven at 18-11, but the Aztecs then went on a 14-1 run to build a 20-point advantage before settling for a 41-24 lead at the break.
Coming out of the locker room, the UAPB offense continued to struggle as it did not record a field goal until six and a half minutes into the second half on a 3-pointer by Lakendra Marsh at 52-28. The Aztecs would eventually lead by as many as 43 and outscored the visitors 45-19 in the final 20 minutes to secure the 86-43 season-opening win.
SDSU shot over 41 percent from the field, made nine 3-pointers and posted a phenomenal 91.3 free-throw percentage (21-for-23). On the flip side, UAPB shot just 22.2 percent for the game, converting only five second-half field goals.
The Lady Lions were led by Gentry's 10 points and Carlisha Walker's eight rebounds.
The Aztecs will now head out on the road for three games in three days at the Jack In The Box Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, Nov. 18-20. SDSU will face DePaul on Friday, followed the by host Hawai'i on Saturday and the University of Portland on Sunday.