SAN DIEGO – The Aztec women's basketball team (1-2) plays at Sacramento State (0-3) Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required) or fans can listen to Chris Ello's call on the Aztec Radio Network.
Aztec Notes
• SDSU beat Sacramento State, who ended up making the NCAA Tournament, 70-59 at home last year. In that game, the Aztecs were 8-for-13 from three and had Mercedes Staples score 20 points.
• The Aztecs are coming off a 77-68 win over UC Davis Monday, their first win of the season. SDSU trailed by eight points with 6:13 left and then finished the game on a 22-5 run.
• SDSU was 8-for-15 from three and held the Aggies to 5-for-21 shooting from deep.
• Jada Lewis, who was playing in her 100th career game, scored a career-high 25 points. It was her second consecutive game with 20 or more points.
• The Aztec starting lineup features two sixth year seniors (Barcello and Prohaska), two fifth year seniors (Lewis and Quezada) and a fourth-year senior (Villalobos).
• All five starters have already had a double-digit scoring game.
• SDSU leads the Mountain West with 17.3 made free throws per game and their free throw percentage of 80% is 27th in the nation.
• Through three games, 41.3% of their scoring has come from newcomers (Lewis, Quezada and Jackson).
• Following Saturday's game, the Aztecs will play five straight home games. SDSU is 16-4 in their last 20 home games.
• The Aztecs currently have three players (all newcomers) out with injury: Erin Houpt, Trinity Zamora and Mia Davis.
• SDSU announced the signings of four recruits to National Letters of Intent: guards Kaelyn Hamilton (McKinney, Texas), Natalia Martinez (San Leandro, Calif.) and Naomi Panganiban (San Diego) and forward Bailey Barnhard (San Diego).
Player Notes
• Kim Villalobos (Los Angeles) led the Aztecs with 16 points Monday, her 26th career game scoring in double-digits.
• Villalobos tied a career-high with four steals, giving her 100 for her career.
• Jada Lewis (Rocklin, Calif.) is shooting 47.6% from three this season and has a career percentage of 37.8%.
• Lewis has made 10 of SDSU's 15 three-pointers.
• Lewis is 52-for-58 (89.7%) from the free throw line in her career
• Sarah Barcello (Phoenix, Ariz.) has scored in double-digits in each of SDSU's three games this year. She topped 10 points just once in her 33 games last year.
• Adryana Quezada (Frisco, Texas) has a career field goal percentage of 51.0%. She has scored in double-digits in two of SDSU's three games. Quezada redshirted at SDSU last year after being an All-Mountain West Honorable Mention selection at Utah State in 2021-22.
• Abby Prohaska (Liberty Township, Ohio) is 106-for-125 from the free throw line in her career (84.8%). She shot 87.5% last year, the fourth best ever in a single-season by an Aztec.
Opponent Notebook (Sacramento State)
• The Hornets are 0-3 to start the season with losses at Washington (76-28), at Nevada (69-53) and vs. Cal State Fullerton (61-51).
• Last year they went 25-8 and 13-5 in the Big Sky. They won both the Big Sky regular season and tournament championship.
• They were picked to finish ninth in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll and sixth in the media member's preseason poll.
• The Hornets have nine newcomers (8 freshmen and one transfer). The eight freshmen are their most in a season in their DI history (since 1991-92) and believed to be the most in the nation this season.
• They were 11-2 at home last season.
• Head coach Aaron Kallhoff is in his first season at Sac State. He is a longtime DI assistant, most recently at BYU.
All-time Series (Sacramento State)
• This is just the seventh meeting all-time between the two programs. The Aztecs are 5-1 vs. the Hornets all-time.
• SDSU won their last meeting 70-59 in San Diego last season (Dec. 7, 2022).
• The Aztecs are 1-1 at Sac State.
• SDSU is averaging 80.3 points per game against Sac State. They scored 99 on them Nov. 14, 2014.
• Their first meeting was Dec. 16, 2001, a 72-51 SDSU home win.
Preseason Notes
• SDSU replenished their backcourt with a pair of transfer guards in Erin Houpt (Mercer) and Jada Lewis (Portland St.). Houpt, a junior, has a career three-point percentage of 41.2% and averaged 12.6 points last season while leading the nation in free-throw percentage (93.9). Lewis comes to SDSU after scoring 906 points and making 207 threes across four seasons at Portland St. Last year she averaged 11.4 points & led the Big Sky with 80 made threes.
• The Aztecs also added F Adryana Quezada after she redshirted at SDSU last season. In 2021-22 at Utah State, she was an All-Mountain West honorable selection after averaging 15.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
• The Aztecs brought in three freshmen guards. The trio of Mia Davis, Alyssa Jackson and Trinity Zamora were ranked as three of the top four incoming freshmen in the Mountain West by Three and D, and Zamora was named the Mountain West Preseason Co-Freshman of the Year.
• San Diego State was picked to finish in fifth place in the Mountain West preseason poll.
• The Aztecs non-conference schedule features eight games against teams with winning records and five against teams that made the postseason a year ago. SDSU hosts perennial powerhouse Stanford Dec. 1.
• SDSU will have two games broadcast on national television: Jan. 7 vs. Fresno State on CBS Sports Network and Jan. 20 vs. San Jose State on FS1.
2022-23 Season Recap
• The Aztecs are coming off their best season since 2012-13. They won 23 games, tied for third place in the Mountain West and qualified for the WNIT.
• San Diego State held opponents to a Mountain West-low 57.3 points per game last year.
• In 2022-23, the Aztecs had their best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.06) since the 1983-84 season.
• Villalobos (El Salvador) and Quezada (Puerto Rico) played for their respective countries' senior national team over the summer. Villalobos averaged 15.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
Aztecs Play at Sacramento State Saturday
