Women's Basketball

Aztecs Play Boise State in MW Semifinals

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LAS VEGAS – The San Diego State women's basketball team plays Boise State in the semifinals of the Mountain West Championships Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
 
Aztec Tidbits
• SDSU tied with Boise State for fourth place in the Mountain West and split with them in the regular season with the home team winning each game.
• SDSU had a 67-56 win over the No. 2 seed New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament Monday.
• The Aztecs haven't trailed in either of the Mountain West Tournament games.
• SDSU outrebounded the Lobos, the Mountain West's best rebounding team 45-25. Their +20 rebound margin tied their season-high.
• For the second straight game, the Aztecs had 19 assists.
Kim Villalobos had 12 points, 14 rebounds (tied career-high) and six assists. She became just the second Aztec ever to have at least 12 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in a Mountain West Tournament game (Chelsea Hopkins).
• SDSU has made the Mountain West tournament semifinals in each of the last two seasons.
• The Aztecs have won 20 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.
Abby Prohaska and Adryana Quezada were named to the All-Mountain West Team and Kim Villalobos was an honorable mention selection. The Aztecs were one of two teams to have three players honored (UNLV).
• Villalobos and Quezada announced that they will return for the 2024-25 season, utilizing their extra year of eligibility offered by the NCAA due to COVID-19.
• SDSU beat every Mountain West team except for first place UNLV and Nevada (who they only played once).
• The Aztecs are averaging 66.7 points per game, their highest since the 2012-13 season and their second highest total in the Mountain West era (25 years).
• SDSU leads the Mountain West in free throws made per game (12.7) and they are shooting 75.7% from the line, the program's best in the Mountain West era (25 years). Four starters are shooting at least 80% from the charity stripe.
• The Aztecs are averaging just 13.5 turnovers per game.
• SDSU finished in a four-way tie for fourth place with Nevada, Colorado State and Boise State, but fell to the No. 7 seed due to tiebreakers. It's the second straight season the Aztecs have slipped two or more spots in seeding due to tiebreakers. Last year, SDSU tied for third, but received the No. 5 seed.
• SDSU went 8-1 at home in conference play and 12-4 overall after going 15-3 in Viejas Arena last year. SDSU's 27 wins over the last two years is the second-most in a two-year span in program history.
• The Aztecs have four players averaging at least 10 points per game: Adryana Quezada (14.0), Kim Villalobos (10.9), Jada Lewis (10.7), Abby Prohaska (10.4). All four are in the top 20 in the Mountain West in scoring.
• The Aztecs have had 10 different players score in double-digits this year.
• SDSU's typical starting lineup features two sixth-year seniors (Barcello and Prohaska), two fifth-year seniors (Lewis and Quezada) and a fourth-year senior (Villalobos). That group averages 123 career games with 84 starts and is believed to be the most experienced starting five in the nation.
Adryana Quezada is one of six players in the nation to have at least 1,200 points, 600 rebounds and 100 assists in their career while averaging at least 14.0 points per game and shooting at least 52% from the field.
Abby Prohaska leads the MW in free throw percentage (84.7%), while Quezada led the MW in conference play (86.0%).
• The Aztecs finished with a winning record in conference play for the second straight season.
• Over the last two seasons, the Aztecs are 27-7 at home and 19-7 in non-conference games.
• SDSU won at least nine non-conference games for the second season in a row. It's also the first time they've done that in back-to-back seasons since 2011-12 and 2012-13.
• All four of SDSU's 2024 recruits were nominated for the McDonald's All-American game: guards Kaelyn Hamilton (McKinney, Texas), Natalia Martinez (San Leandro, Calif.) and Naomi Panganiban (La Jolla, Calif.) and forward Bailey Barnhard (San Diego).
• SDSU has gone to overtime four times this season, tied for the most in program history. They didn't go to OT once last season.
 
Player Notes
Adryana Quezada (Frisco, Texas) is shooting a career-high 52.8% from the floor, which is fourth in the MW.
• She has scored in double-digits in all but seven games and has led SDSU in scoring 18 times.
• Against Penn, she became the first Aztec since 2020, and just seventh in the Mountain West era, to have at least 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists in a game. Out of those seven, Quezada accomplished the feat in the fewest number of minutes.
• In conference play, Kim Villalobos (Los Angeles), tied for third in steals (1.7 spg) in the Mountain West, tied for sixth in rebounding (7.2 rpg) and ninth in blocks (0.9 bpg). She is the only player in the conference in the top 10 in all three categories.
• Villalobos is the first post player to lead SDSU in steals since Khristina Hunter in the 2014-15 season.
• Against Utah State earlier this month, Villalobos became just the fifth Aztec ever to have at least eight rebounds, six assists and three steals in a Mountain West game.
• Villalobos has 11 career double-doubles and seven of them have happened since the beginning of conference play.
• Villalobos is 14 points away from 1,000 in her career.
• Villalobos stuffed the stat sheet vs. Westcliff earlier this year and became just the second Aztec in the Mountain West era (1999-present) to have at least 15 points, seven rebounds, six steals and five assists in a game, joining SDSU Hall of Famer Jené Morris.
• Both Quezada and Villalobos have over 600 career rebounds.
Jada Lewis (Rocklin, Calif.) is making 2.1 three-pointers per game, fourth in the Mountain West.
• Lewis, who played her first four years at Portland State, has made 277 three-pointers in her career. The SDSU record is 249 by Jamey Cox (2000-03).
• Lewis is 90-for-102 (88.2%) from the free throw line in her career. She went 24-for-25 from the line in MW play.
• Both Lewis and Quezada have over 1,200 career points.
Abby Prohaska (Liberty Township, Ohio) leads the Mountain West in free throw percentage (84.7%) this season. She has shot 84.5% from the line in her career and 85.4% while at SDSU.
• Prohaska is averaging career-highs in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, and steals.
Sarah Barcello (Phoenix, Ariz.) led the team in minutes (30.6) in conference play.
• Barcello recorded her 100th career steal vs. New Mexico Monday.
• Barcello is averaging career-highs in minutes per game (29.8) and free throw percentage (86.1%) her three-point percentage of 36.7% is her best since her freshman year at Marist (41% in 2018-19).
• Five Aztecs shot at least 35% from three in conference play: Quezada (53.3%), Alyssa Jackson (47.4%) Mia Davis (39.0%), Lewis (36.6%) and Barcello (35.0%).
• Against Utah State last month, Mia Davis (Phoenix, Ariz.) became just the second Aztec freshman in the Mountain West era (1999-2024) to make five or more threes in a half.
Jazlen Green (Upland, Calif.) joined the Aztecs after the semester break. She averaged 9.1 points and made 97 threes in 51 games at Cal.
 
Mountain West Tournament Notes
• The Aztecs are 20-22 all-time in the Mountain West Tournament.
• SDSU is 5-2 all-time in the finals but has lost the last two.
• The last time the Aztecs made the championship game was 2013.
• SDSU has only faced Boise State in the Mountain West Tournament once before, beating them in the first round in 2022 in the No. 7 vs. No. 10 game.
• The Aztecs are 5-7 all-time as the No. 7 seed.
• The Aztecs have made the semifinals in each of the past two years.
 
Opponent Notebook (Boise State)
• The Broncos are 21-12 on the year and went 10-8 in conference play. Both records are the same as the Aztecs.
• They are 8-9 away from home.
• They are the No. 6 seed and have beaten No. 11 Utah State and No. 3 Wyoming.
• They are second in the nation in blocks per game (6.2) led by Abby Muse who is ninth in the nation.
• They are holding opponents to 57.7 points per game, the best in the conference.
• They average 40.8 rebounds per game, 5.6 more per game than their opponent.
• Natalie Pasco averages 13.2 points per game and is shooting 39% from three.
• Head coach Gordy Presnell is in his 19th year at Boise St. and 37th year overall. He has over 700 wins in his career.
• Boise State leads the all-time series 14-13.
• This is just their second time playing the Mountain West Tournament.
• They split in the regular season with the home team winning both times.