Dec. 8, 2014
SAN DIEGO - Fresh off a home victory over UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, the San Diego State women's basketball team will make the short drive west down Interstate 8 on Tuesday to renew acquaintances with the University of San Diego in the annual city showdown, beginning at 6 p.m. PT inside Jenny Craig Pavilion. A live audio stream will be available on GoAztecs.com, with SDSU alumnus Chris Ello handling the play-by-play responsibilities.
The Aztecs-Toreros clash will mark the 38th installment of the intra-city showdown, which dates back to February 1978. The two sides have battled one another on a yearly basis since 2002 after the series went on hiatus from 1997-2001. SDSU owns a 28-9 advantage over its crosstown adversary and has emerged victorious in its last two visits to the Alcala Park campus.
Defense has typified the series recently, with the two schools reaching the 70-point plateau just four times in the past 15 meetings. On each occasion, the team to score over 70 points came away with the win. Similarly, the losing side has failed to score more than 60 points in 10 of the last 13 encounters.
The aforementioned trend continued last season as USD claimed a 48-45 decision at Viejas Arena to spoil the Aztecs' 2013-14 home opener. The contest was just the fifth in the last 12 games to feature a winning margin of five points or less. The other seven have been decided by an average of over 17 points, with each team posting a victory of more than 25 points.
SDSU has been bolstered by the return of junior Erimma Amarikwa, who missed the final 23 games of the 2013-14 campaign after undergoing hip surgery. Through seven games this year, the Vacaville, Calif., native leads the Aztecs with 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per outing, along with a .571 field-goal percentage. Against UCSB on Sunday, Amarikwa scored all 15 of her points in the first half to tie senior Khristina Hunter (Fairfield, Calif.) for team-high honors. Amarikwa and Hunter also grabbed six rebounds apiece and combined for 11 of 16 field goals on the afternoon to lift SDSU to a 64-58 victory. Hunter has been the Aztecs' top free-throw shooter this season, draining 13 of 17 attempts (.765), while leading the squad with 10 steals and seven blocks. SDSU's fortunes have also been sparked by junior Ahjalee Harvey (Mountain View, Calif.), who has connected on 11 of 21 shots from three-point range (.524).
As a team, SDSU enters the week leading the Mountain West with a .426 field-goal percentage, while its plus-3 rebounding margin ranks third.
Following Tuesday's game, the Aztecs will have nine days off from competition for final exams before opening a two-game homestand on Thursday, Dec. 18 against Washington, followed by a clash with CSUN on Saturday, Dec. 20.