Feb. 29, 2016
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team wraps up the home portion of its regular-season schedule on Tuesday when it entertains New Mexico in a key Mountain West showdown at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena, beginning at 6:30 p.m. PT.
A live video stream of the Aztecs-Lobos encounter will be available on GoAztecs.com, with SDSU alumnus Chris Ello handling the play-by-play duties.
Prior to opening tip, the Aztecs will hold a special ceremony honoring their own Ahjalee Harvey (Mountain View, Calif.) and Deidra Smith (Aurora, Colo.) as part of Senior Night festivities.
SDSU (11-16, 6-10 MW) is coming off a 68-63 setback at Boise State last Saturday, while New Mexico suffered a road defeat in its last outing as well, falling to Fresno State by a 51-43 count. The Aztecs played a fairly even game statistically against the Broncos as the two sides combined for seven lead changes and three ties. However, the Scarlet and Black was largely undone by Boise State's 10-for-21 shooting performance from the three-point range.
With the loss, SDSU was unable to gain ground in the Mountain West standings, remaining in eighth place one game behind New Mexico (14-13, 7-9 MW) and Utah State (12-15, 7-9 MW), while UNLV (15-13, 8-9 MW) sits in fifth. In addition to the Aztecs-Lobos clash, the Aggies will play host to Air Force on Tuesday, while the Lady Rebels will enjoy an open date.
SDSU has faced New Mexico more than any other team in program history, with the Lobos maintaining a 31-26 lead in the all-time series. However, the Aztecs ended a four-game skid to UNM with a 51-46 triumph in Albuquerque on Feb. 6. SDSU has won four of its last six meetings against the Lobos in San Diego, including a 53-48 come-from-behind victory in 2014, when the Scarlet and Black limited UNM to just three field goals in the second half.
SDSU has emerged triumphant in four straight Senior Night games and seven of its last eight, including a 76-61 conquest of UNLV a year ago. The Aztecs experienced their last Senior Night defeat on March 2, 2011, when Wyoming invaded Montezuma Mesa and captured a 63-50 victory.
Individually, the Aztecs have been led by sophomore McKynzie Fort (Fontana, Calif.), who occupies the fourth spot in the conference for all games in both scoring (14.7 ppg) and in steals (2.1/gm). In addition, the 5-9 guard ranks eighth in free-throw accuracy (.703) and 10th in field-goal percentage (.469). Harvey, meanwhile, has landed in a tie for the ninth position this week with a .368 three-point field-goal percentage in league play and is averaging 11.9 points per contest in MW action. Over her last four games, Harvey has connected on 23 of 44 shots from the floor (.522) and has averaged 4.8 rebounds.
Elsewhere, Smith has found her range recently, draining 56 percent of her field-goal attempts over the past nine games (35-63), while junior Ariell Bostick (Oakland, Calif.) has dished out five assists in each of the last four contests and ranks seventh in conference play with a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Following Tuesday's matchup, San Diego State will close out its regular-season slate on Friday, March 4, when it travels to the Silver State for a return engagement with UNLV. Game time is set for 5 p.m. PT. The Aztecs were dealt a 55-41 setback in the last meeting between the two schools on Jan. 30 at Viejas Arena.