Dec. 2, 2011
The San Diego State women's basketball team cut a 23-point deficit down to just 11 points, but was never able to overcome a poor shooting performance as the Aztecs dropped their third game of the season 65-50 to host Washington State on Friday at Beasley Coliseum. With the loss, SDSU fell to 4-3, while the Cougars avenged last year's Aztec victory to improve to 5-4 overall.
SDSU was led by junior Chelsea Hopkins' (Las Vegas, Nev.) career-high 14 points. The team's leading scorer entering the night, junior Courtney Clements (Long Beach, Calif.), was limited to only 13 all in the second half, but did manage a career-best nine rebounds. Clements was helped on the glass by senior Kalena Tutt (Long Beach, Calif.), who added seven.
After Chairese Culberson (Oakland, Calif.) scored the Aztecs' first basket of the night to tie the score at two, SDSU missed its next eight shots and fell behind 14-2 until Hopkins finally ended the drought with a lay-up at the 13:43 mark. The two sides traded buckets, but the visitors' shooting woes continued as they missed nine of their next 11 field-goals attempts and also committed seven turnovers during that same span to fall behind by 20 points at 31-11.
After trailing by 19 at the break, San Diego State came out strong from the locker room, putting together a 9-2 run, including Clements' first five points of the game to trim the deficit to 12. SDSU also trailed by 12 with 13:05 remaining, but missed four shots on one possession alone and Washington State took advantage with an 11-0 run, including its first three triples of the night for its largest lead at 51-28.
A three-point play from Culberson sparked the Aztecs' final charge of the game as they shaved 12 points off that deficit to get to within only 11 with just under five minutes to play at 57-46. After each side hit a 3-pointer, San Diego State managed only one more point the rest of the way and ultimately ended up falling by 15 points, 65-50.
The Aztecs shot a season-low 28.6 percent from the field, including a 20.0 mark in the first 20 minutes of action. They also had 20 turnovers, but did manage to draw even in the rebounding department at 44 apiece. Washington State, meanwhile, shot over 42 percent for the game, converted five second-half 3-pointer and recorded 12 steals.
The Cougars were led by Ireti Amojo, who scored 12 of her game-high 16 points from beyond the arc, and Carly Noyes, who tallied 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
San Diego State returns to Viejas Arena for a Thursday contest against cross-town rival University of San Diego on Thursday at 7 p.m. PT. The annual meeting will be televised live on The Mtn.