Jan. 28, 2012
The San Diego State women's basketball team used a 13-4 run to start the second half en route to a 66-57 victory over Colorado State Saturday at Viejas Arena. It was the 12th consecutive win for the Aztecs, which is the program's longest such streak in 17 years, and improved them to 16-4 overall and 6-0 in the Mountain West. The Rams, who were tied for second place in the league standings entering the day, dropped to 8-13 and 4-2 in conference action.
"The perimeter players, obviously, did the bulk of our scoring today, but our bigs [front court players] really did some heavy lifting and made them have to spread the floor," SDSU head coach Beth Burns said. "They had to go away from the game they've been playing against the other five league teams and that's the high-low-game. It was huge to get out of this homestand with a pair of wins, but now we're going to have to pack our bags and get ready for two contests on the road next week."
The 12 consecutive victories comprise for the team's longest win streak since the 1994-95 squad claimed a school-record 18 in a row. San Diego State's 6-0 league record, meanwhile, is its best start to league play since the 1996-97 team came out ahead in its first seven outings while competing in the Western Athletic Conference.
On Saturday, the Aztecs were led once again by junior Courtney Clements (Long Beach, Calif.), who finished just shy of the 20-point mark, notching 13 of her 19 points in the first half, while tying her career high in 3-pointers with five on just eight attempts (62.5 percent). The guard also tallied five rebounds and three steals in her 34 total minutes.
Junior Chelsea Hopkins (Las Vegas, Nev.) was the second SDSU player in double-figures, scoring 15 to go with eight assists. Freshman forward Chairese Culberson (Oakland, Calif.) was solid off the bench with her team-best eight rebounds and eight points.
SDSU went the entire game without trailing and were only tied with the Rams once after the start at 5-5 with 17:15 remaining in the first half. A jumper by sophomore Kiyana Stamps (Moreno Valley, Calif.) just 24 seconds later gave San Diego State a lead it would never relinquish.
The Aztecs went up 17-9 with 10:10 left on a 3-pointer by freshman Ahjalee Harvey (Mountain View, Calif.), but CSU answered with five straight points to get within three at 17-14. SDSU, however, responded by going on a 9-0 run to open up a 26-14 advantage until Colorado State closed to within 33-25 at the break.
Hopkins had six points and three assists over the Aztecs' 13-4 opening second-half run that put the home team up, 46-29, with 15:04 left. San Diego State led by as many as 17, but with two minutes remaining the Rams trailed by only seven on a jumper from LaDeyah Forte.
Stamps then nailed a basket in the paint to make it a nine-point advantage and Hopkins converted on three of four free-throw attempts in the final 32 seconds to preserve the 66-57 victory.
Colorado State was led by Kim Mestdagh's game-high 21 points, while both Sam Martin and Meghan Heimstra contributed 11 apiece in the loss.
San Diego State finishes out the first round of Mountain West action next week, as the team heads to Boise for a Wednesday evening visit to new league member Boise State beginning at 6 p.m. PT at Taco Bell Arena.