March 2, 2018
RENO, Nev. -- The San Diego State women's basketball team fell at Nevada 84-72 Friday evening, The Aztecs shot an efficient 50 percent from the field, but the Wolf Pack scored 24 points off of Aztec turnovers and outscored San Diego State 50-34 in the paint.
The Aztecs finish the regular season in a three-way tie for 8th place with Utah State and Air Force and will be the No. 10 seed due to the Mountain West tiebreaker. San Diego State will have a rematch with No. 7 seed Nevada Monday at 4:30 p.m. PT. If the Aztecs win, they will play No. 2 UNLV Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
McKynzie Fort led the Aztecs with 19 points and Geena Gomez continued her stellar senior season with 16. Baylee Vanderdoes chipped in 13 points, on 5-for-5 shooting, which set a new career-high.
The Aztecs scored the game's first seven points and maintained a lead until midway through the second quarter. After Nevada cut the lead to three (9-6), the Aztecs used another 7-0 run to push their lead to 16-6. San Diego State shot 63 percent from the field in the first quarter, highlighted by three Baylee Vanderdoes power lay-ins, taking a 22-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
After committing just one turnover in the first quarter, the Aztecs turned it over six times in the first five minutes of the second quarter. This led to a 7-0 Wolf Pack run, giving them their first lead (26-25). Nevada was held to 37 percent shooting in the first half, but had nine offensive rebounds that led to 10 second chance points.
Plagued by turnovers, the Aztecs made just one second quarter field goal, and none over the final eight minutes, but still took a 32-30 lead in to the halftime break. Geena Gomez led the Aztecs with eight points at the break.
The Aztecs continued to struggle to keep the Wolf Pack off the offensive glass in the third quarter and Nevada pushed their lead to 11 with a minute left in the third quarter (58-47).
A Khalia Lark three-pointer with 7:39 left cut the Aztecs' deficit to six points, but that would be the closest SDSU would get.
Nevada outrebounded San Diego State 33-32, but had a 16-9 advantage on the offensive glass, which allowed them to outscore the Aztecs 17-4 in second chance points.
The Wolf Pack turned the ball over just seven times while the Aztecs had 15 turnovers, leading to Nevada having 24 points off Aztec turnovers.
The Wolf Pack were led by Teige Zeller's 20 points. Halie Bergman (19), Terae Briggs (15) and T Moe (12) also scored in double-digits.
THE NOTE I
Naje Murray had a career-high eight rebounds, eclipsing the seven she hauled in at Boise State on Tuesday.
THE NOTE II
Baylee Vanderdoes set a new career-high with 13 points, shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Aztecs made just one field goal in the second quarter. Because of problems taking care of the ball and boxing out on the defensive glass, the Aztecs attempted just five shots, while the Wolf Pack put up 22 attempts. Overall, the Wolf Pack had 19 more field goal attempts in the game than the Aztecs.
UP NEXT
The Aztecs begin the Mountain West Tournament on Monday in Las Vegas. As at the No. 10 seed they will take on No. 7 Nevada at 4:30 p.m. PT at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. The game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network and Chris Ello will have the call for XTRA 1360 AM.