Nov. 18, 2011
HONOLULU - The San Diego State women's basketball team went on a 10-0 run with just over five minutes remaining in the game to turn a two-point contest into a 12-point advantage and went on to claim a 82-74 upset victory over 18th-ranked DePaul Friday in the first game of the Jack In The Box Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. The win was the Aztecs' sixth over a top-25 team in the last four seasons and improved them to 2-0 overall in 2011-12, while the Blue Demons dropped to 2-1.
"Life is too short to not savor special moments even this early in the season," SDSU head coach Beth Burns said. "We couldn't be prouder of our effort. We've had good guard play and we did again tonight, but it was our rebounding effort against the big, strong bodies of DePaul that really made the difference. Our starters began the game with great toughness, really made it difficult for them to score and Courtney (Clements) made some shots early to give us a little bit of a lead. We never really had to play from behind and different people, like Kiyana Stamps, really stepped up. It was a terrific win for SDSU, but we want to get greedy and win this whole thing and we still have two more games left to play."
The Aztecs had four players score in double-figures, led by junior Courtney Clements (Long Beach, Calif.), who eclipsed the 20-point mark for the second consecutive outing with 25, including 13 in the first half. Sophomore Kiyana Stamps (Moreno Valley, Calif.) continued to give the Aztecs an offensive punch off the bench with 17 points for the second game in a row. Sophomore Melissa Sweat (Bakersfield, Calif.) and freshman Chairese Culberson (Oakland, Calif.) both chipped in career highs with 14 and 10 points respectively.
Sweat was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and Culberson hauled in nine boards to fall just one rebound short of a double-double. Clements tied a career high with eight rebounds, junior Chelsea Hopkins (Las Vegas, Nev.) had seven assists and senior Kalena Tutt (Long Beach, Calif.) added three steals.
After the game was tied three times in the first four minutes, the Aztecs utilized a three-point play from Sweat to spark a 12-0 run at 18-6. DePaul eventually caught up with the help of three triples to knot the contest at 27 points apiece. The Blue Demons took the lead on the pair of free throws, but the Aztecs managed to even the score heading into the locker room at 33-33.
The two sides traded free throws coming out of the break, before SDSU's Culberson made a jumper and hit a pair at the line to give the team a lead they would never end up relinquishing. The Aztecs had two nine-point advantages, but saw that cut down to only a pair with 5:50 remaining in the game.
From there, San Diego State started a 10-0 run with baskets by four different players to go up by 12 and go on to secure an eight-point upset victory 82-74.
The Aztecs attempted just one free throw in the first half, but tried 29 in the second half to go 24-for-30 (80.0 percent) at the stripe. SDSU owned a 47-38 advantage on the boards and hit six 3-pointers, which was two more than a DePaul squad that had a combined 25 in its opening two contests this season.
The Blue Demons were led by Keisha Hampton's 27 points and six rebounds, while Anna Martin tallied 18 points and four boards before fouling out.
San Diego State will be back in action Saturday, when they play tournament host Hawai'i (1-1) at 2 p.m. HT/4 p.m. PT.