Feb. 15, 2012
San Diego St. 57,New Mexico 44
The San Diego State women's basketball team held host New Mexico to just 10 first-half points and withstood a late Lobo rally for a 57-44 victory Wednesday. The win was the Aztecs' fourth in a row at The Pit and moved them to 19-5 overall and 9-1 in league play, while the Lobos dropped to 8-16 and 2-8 in the MWC.
SDSU got a career performance from junior center Malia Nahinu (Hayward, Calif.), who logged her first-ever double-double with 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Nahinu also tied her career best with five of the team's seven blocked shots in 33 minutes of action. Junior point guard Chelsea Hopkins was the only other Aztec in double-figure points with 12 to go with six assists and two steals.
The Aztecs got off to a fast start, scoring three baskets in the first minute and a half of the game leading to a quick Lobo timeout. New Mexico regrouped to respond with four quick points of its own, but it didn't score again until the 9:13 mark with SDSU holding a 13-6 advantage.
The Lobos closed the gap to as few as six points at 14-8. The Aztecs, however, used 10 points from Nahinu to finish out the half on a 10-2 run and headed into the break ahead by the score of 24-10.
SDSU junior Courtney Clements (Long Beach, Calif.) opened the second half by hitting three consecutive baskets with the first two coming via jumpers and the second on a fastbreak following a nice pass from Hopkins to surpass the 1,000-point mark in her career.
The Aztecs scored the first six points coming out of the locker room, but New Mexico countered with seven in a row to cut a game-high 20-point deficit all the way down to 15. The Lobos rallied to within just nine points at 36-27 on a Porche Torrance lay-up with just under 10 minutes left.
Freshman Ahjalee Harvey (Mountain View, Calif.) gave the Aztecs some breathing room, hitting the team's first 3-pointer of the game from the left wing and following that up with two free throws to make it 43-29.
Just as SDSU appeared to be pulling away, New Mexico went on an 11-2 run and got to within only six on three occasions. A 3-point play by Hopkins restored order and the Aztecs scored nine unanswered points and went on for the 57-44 win.
San Diego State matched its season low with 10 turnovers and owned a +6 margin on the boards.
The Lobos were led by Torrance's 20 points, before she fouled out with 3:22 left in the game.
San Diego State returns to Viejas Arena Saturday for a 2 p.m. PT game against Air Force.