Dec. 30, 2015
LARAMIE, Wyo. -- The San Diego State women's basketball team employed timely runs, a strong interior presence and ultimately some clutch free-throw shooting to register an 84-77 triumph over Wyoming on Wednesday in the Mountain West opener for both schools at Arena-Auditorium.
The Aztecs (6-6, 1-0 MW) connected on a season-best 51.7 percent of their field-goal attempts (31-60) and committed just seven turnovers to even their overall record and help snap the Cowgirls' (7-4, 0-1 MW) four-game winning streak.
Despite a slight 35-33 rebounding deficiency, SDSU outscored Wyoming 44-34 in the paint and tallied 17 points off 13 Cowgirl turnovers to win for the third time in its last four trips to Laramie. In addition, the Aztecs drained 18 of 25 foul shots, including a 9-for-10 performance in the final 1:03 to seal the victory.
Individually, SDSU was led by sophomore McKynzie Fort (Fontana, Calif.), who scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go with five rebounds, while senior Ahjalee Harvey (Mountain View, Calif.) established a career- best with 19 points, highlighted by a pair of triples. The Aztec cause was also advanced by sophomore Cheyenne Greenhouse (Riverside, Calif.), who tossed in 13 points of her own, while junior Ariell Bostick (Oakland, Calif.) tied for game-high honors with 10 rebounds.
SDSU persevered despite a heroic effort from Wyoming freshman Marta Gomez, who led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including a 6-for-10 clip from beyond the arc. In addition, the Cowgirls received double-doubles from sophomore Natalie Baker (19 points, 10 rebounds) and senior Marquelle Dent (10 points, 11 assists), while sophomore Liv Roberts reached double figures as well with 13 points. However, Wyoming got little help from its reserves as the Aztecs owned a sizable 28-6 advantage in bench scoring.
The Cowgirls raced to a 15-4 lead by the 5:21 mark of the opening period after sinking their first three shots from downtown. SDSU quickly regrouped at this juncture, unleashing a 15-0 blitz over the remainder of the quarter to vault in front for good. Greenhouse notched six straight points to ignite the run, while Fort added a pair of jumpers to give the visitors a 19-15 edge.
Wyoming kept things close through the first five minutes of the second stanza, narrowing the gap to 27-24 after another Gomez hoop. Moments later, the Aztecs responded with an 11-2 spurt to build a 38-26 bulge by the 2:30 mark of the quarter. Harvey buried two treys during the run, while sophomore Lexy Thorderson (Castle Rock, Colo.) added another three-ball to give the Scarlet and Black its largest cushion of the half. However, the Cowgirls managed to trim the margin to single digits just before intermission at 40-33 on a Roberts jumper, followed quickly by a Dent layup.
Despite baskets by Harvey and Bostick on consecutive possessions early in the third quarter, momentum was clearly on Wyoming's side as Gomez drilled a three-pointer, while Baker soon followed with a layup to punctuate a 9-4 surge that tightened the score at 44-42 with 7:24 left in the period. As was the case the entire game, however, SDSU withstood the challenge, fashioning a crucial 16-6 run over the ensuing six minutes to reclaim a double-digit advantage at 60-48. Sophomore Geena Gomez (Huntington Beach, Calif.) scored five straight points during the outburst, while Fort converted an and-one opportunity as the Aztecs seemed primed to break the game open.
Wyoming received a boost from Skyler Snodgrass, who promptly nailed a triple to close out the scoring in the third quarter, but SDSU extended the margin back to 12 at 66-54 by the 6:26 mark of the fourth period following a pair of Fort free throws and a layup by Greenhouse. The Cowgirls threw one last scare at the Aztecs, engineering an 18-9 blitz over a span of 5:34 that cut the deficit to 75-72 with 52 seconds remaining. Marta Gomez scored eight points during that stretch, including a pair of treys, while Dent capped the run with a layup.
However, Wyoming was out of timeouts and was forced to foul to stop the clock. SDSU, which entered the night shooting 61.2 percent from the free-throw line, came up huge down the stretch, sinking 9 of their final 10 attempts from the charity stripe to put the game on ice.
The Aztecs' 84 points were their most in 51 all-time meetings with the Cowgirls, eclipsing the old mark of 83 set in 1992 when both schools were members of the Western Athletic Conference.
San Diego State will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 2, when it plays host to Utah State at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena. Game time is set for 2 p.m. PT.