March 3, 2015
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SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team received double-digit scoring totals from four players on Tuesday to fuel its 76-61 victory over visiting UNLV on Senior Night at Viejas Arena.
With the win, the Aztecs clinch the No. 7 seed in next week's Mountain West Championship, improving to 11-17 overall and 8-9 in conference play, while the Lady Rebels dropped their second straight after winning five in a row, falling to 13-15 on the season and 10-7 in the MW.
For just the second time this year, SDSU finished with a field-goal percentage of greater than 50 percent, converting 29-of-57 attempts from the floor, including a 17-for-24 clip (70.8 percent) in the second half. The Aztecs also sank 14 of 17 free throws and maintained a 28-14 advantage on points in the paint to help extend their winning streak over UNLV at Viejas Arena to eight straight.
Individually, Erimma Amarikwa (Vacaville, Calif.) made her final home game a memorable one, posting her ninth career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while junior Ahjalee Harvey (Mountain View, Calif.) was perfect from the both the field (3-3) and the free-throw line (6-6) en route to a 14-point performance. In addition, the SDSU cause was aided by freshman McKynzie Fort (Fontana, Calif.), who contributed 10 points and a season-high six assists, while senior Khristina Hunter (Fairfield, Calif.) finished with 10 points of her own to go with six rebounds.
Conversely, the Lady Rebels were doomed by cold shooting, both from the floor and the charity stripe. UNLV hit just 19 of 58 field-goal tries (33 percent), including a 6-for-26 pace in the first half, to go with a 15-for-30 effort at the foul line.
The Lady Rebels took their only lead of the game 16-14 on a three-pointer by Alana Cesarz with 5:09 remaining in the first half, before the Aztecs reclaimed the upper hand for good with a 12-2 spurt to close the period. Five different players scored for SDSU during the run, including Fort, who beat the halftime buzzer with a jumper that provided the host school a 26-18 advantage.
The Aztecs built on their momentum in the opening three minutes of the second half as sophomore Aleiah Brandon (Corona, Calif.) buried a three-pointer to put SDSU in front 33-19 at the 17:28 mark. UNLV seemed poised to make a game of it after Cesarz hit a triple of her own, while Amie Callaway soon followed with a layup that trimmed the margin in half, 37-30, with 15 minutes left on the clock.
However, SDSU extinguished the Lady Rebels' comeback hopes in convincing fashion, connecting on 11 of 14 field goals over the ensuing nine minutes to put the game out of reach. Harvey scored 10 points during the 26-9 outburst, nailing two three-pointers and four foul shots, including two at the six-minute mark that gave the Aztecs their biggest advantage of the evening at 63-39.
UNLV managed to pull within 14, but only 31 seconds remained when Nikki Wheatley hit a layup that tightened the score at 72-58.
The Lady Rebels were led by Cesarz, who recorded a game-high 19 points, while the MW's leading scorer Danielle Miller added 18 points despite connecting on just of 4 of 21 shots from the field and 8 of 15 attempts at the free-throw line.
Prior to Tuesday's game, San Diego State honored Erimma Amarikwa, Khristina Hunter and Chairese Culberson (Oakland, Calif.) as part of Senior Night festivities.
The Aztecs will close off their regular-season schedule on Friday when they travel to Nevada for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff. The Wolf Pack (8-20, 4-13 MW) dropped a 68-61 decision at Colorado State on Tuesday.