SAN DIEGO – The Aztec women's basketball team (7-16, 5-12) enters the Mountain West Tournament as the No. 8 seed and will play the No. 9 seed Air Force (7-17, 4-14) in the first round Sunday at 2 p.m. inside the Thomas & Mack Center. The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network and aired on XTRA 1360 AM with Jon Schaeffer on the call. The winner of Sunday's game will take on the No. 1 seed, New Mexico, Monday at noon.
Aztec Notes
• The Aztecs and Falcons split their two regular season meetings (Jan. 22 and 24) in San Diego.
• SDSU won the first game 59-54, scoring 42 of their points in the second half. The Aztecs hit six of their seven three-pointers in the fourth quarter and Mercedes Staples scored 11 of her season-high 24 points in the final frame.
• Air Force came from behind to win the rematch 58-55. SDSU held a 10-point lead with five minutes left and then Air Force went on a 19-3 run. Mercedes Staples had 16 points and seven rebounds while Téa Adams added 11 points, seven assists and five steals.
• SDSU and Air Force have alternated wins over their last seven meetings and the total score in that span is tied 410-410.
• The Aztecs have gone to overtime in their last three Mountain West Tournament games and in four of the past five.
• Sophia Ramos returned to the court Feb. 15 after missing 10 weeks with a hand injury. Since returning, she is leading the team in scoring (15 ppg), assists (4.3 apg), minutes (33.8 mpg), field goal (.449), three-point (.444) and free throw percentage (.800).
• Ramos (San Antonio, Texas) recently reached 1,000 points in her career, becoming the 13th Aztec to reach that mark it in three years or less and just the 10th Aztec to reach the mark in 70 or fewer games. In her 75 career games, she has scored in double-digits 60 times and scored at least 20 points 15 times.
• In Ramos' four Mountain West tournament games, she is averaging 17.4 points and is 7-for-11 from three.
• Téa Adams SDSU's lone senior, enters the tournament with 930 points, 250 assists and 121 steals in her career. This season she is averaging career-highs in points (10.6), assists (3.5), steals (1.2), field goal (.453) and three-point percentage (.366).
• Since Mallory Adams entered the lineup six games ago, she is averaging 10.2 points with a team-high 11 made three-pointers.
• Sophomore Isabela Hernandez (Bellingham, Wash.) enters the tournament second all-time in career three-point percentage. She is 45-for-114 in her career, good for 39.5 percent, just barely behind Charley Murray's (1998-99) 39.6 percent.
• The Aztecs have had 11 different players score at least 10 points in a game and have had six different players lead the team (or tie for the lead) in scoring.
• The Aztecs had a team GPA of 3.19 in the 2020 fall semester and had six players record a 3.40 GPA or better.
Mountain West Tournament Notes
• The Aztecs are 16-19 all-time in the Mountain West Tournament.
• SDSU is 3-0 all-time against Air Force in the Mountain West Tournament. They last played in the No. 7 (SDSU) vs. No. 10 (AF) game in 2019, a 63-55 Aztec win.
• SDSU has gone to overtime in their last three Mountain West tournament games and in four of their last five.
• SDSU is 12-2 as the higher seed.
• The Aztecs are 4-5 in the first round.
• SDSU is 2-3 all-time as the No. 8 seed and 2-0 when playing the No. 9 seed.
• The Aztecs were in the No. 8 vs No. 9 game in both 2016 and 2017, splitting those games.
• SDSU is 5-7 at the Mountain West Championships under Coach Terry-Hutson.
• In Sophia Ramos' four Mountain West tournament games she is averaging 17.4 points and is 7-for-11 from three.
Opponent Notebook (Air Force)
• Air Force finished the regular season 7-17 and 4-14 (9th place) in the Mountain West.
• They were recently swept at home by Nevada, but prior to that split their series with New Mexico and Colorado State, the top two teams in the conference.
• They are 2-8 away from their home arena this year.
• They are led by Riley Snyder's 15.4 points per game. She has 51 made three-pointers, second most in the conference.
• Briana Autry scores 12.5 points per game and dishes out 4.0 assists per game. Her 2.5 steals per game are second in the conference.
• Kassady Huffman leads the Mountain West with 1.9 blocks per game.
• The Falcons lead the conference in steals (10.1 per game) and turnovers forced (17.7 per game).
• Air Force is last in the conference in field goal percentage defense (.442), turnovers (16.0 per game), assist-to-turnover ratio (0.73) and fouls (16.8 per game). They are 10th in points per game (60.7) and rebounds per game (35.4).
• Head coach Chris Gobrecht is in her sixth season with the Falcons and her 41st season overall. She is 36-139 at Air Force and 578-612 overall.
Series Notes
• San Diego State leads the all-time series 37-12.
• The Aztecs are 3-0 against the Falcons at the Mountain West Tournament. They last met in the first round in 2019, a 63-55 SDSU win.
• The two teams have alternated wins over their last seven meetings. The total score over those seven games is 410-410.
• A team has reached 70 points only once in the past 11 meetings.
Aztecs Face Air Force in the First Round of MW Tournament
