March 4, 2017
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State women's basketball opens the 2017 Mountain West Women's Basketball Championship as the No. 9 seed on Mon., March 6 at 2 p.m. PT when they face No. 8 seed San José State. All 10 games of the tournament will stream live on the Mountain West Network, and Chris Ello will call SDSU's games in a live audio broadcast on GoAztecs.com.
San Diego State is 17-12 in its tournament openers all-time, advancing in the conference tournament each of the last five seasons.
The Scarlet and Black closed its regular season with one of its most impressive conference victories, using a dominating third quarter and strong defensive performance to beat New Mexico, 63-51, at home. The Aztecs strung together their second two-game win streak of the conference season with the victory after beating Air Force, 64-51, the game prior. The back-to-back wins were SDSU's first by double-digits in conference play.
San José State (10-20, 7-11 MW) ended the regular season on a skid, dropping its final four games of conference play by an average of 11 points. Despite the recent drop-off, the Spartans remain the conference's best 3-point shooting team and, as a result, have generated the most offense in the Mountain West. They top the MW and are 21st in NCAA Division I with 8.2 3-pointers per game, and their 72.0 points per game are a league high. Senior guard Dezz Ramos has evolved into one of the nation's best shooters, sitting fourth nationally with 23.3 points per game. She leads the league in most offensive categories, and is also the conference's best from the charity stripe. Helping her out is her classmate and one of the league's premier rebounders, Jasmine Smith. Smith tops the MW with four offensive rebounds per game and is fourth in total rebounds per game.
San Diego State and San José State will meet for the 28th time, and the third time this season. The two teams will meet in the MW Championship for the first time. This season against SJSU, San Diego State is 0-2, suffering close losses in both games. Against any opponent this season, SDSU has had its most success beyond the arc versus San José State. In their road game against the Spartans, SDSU knocked down 12 3-pointers, its third straight game with 10-or-more threes, and, when hosting SJSU, drilled 13 long balls.