SAN DIEGO – Veronica Sheffey scored a driving lay-up at the buzzer to lift the San Diego State women’s basketball team (15-7, 4-5) to a 59-58 win over first place UNLV (16-5, 8-1) in a rematch of last year’s Mountain West Championship game.
The Aztecs never held a lead in the second half until the final second and trailed UNLV by as much as 10 points early in the second half.
“We drew up the play for me, but things kind of broke down a little bit,” Sheffey explained after the game. “So, I knew I had to score somehow. I knew they were aggressive, so I was trying to take it to the rim, get into contact and hopefully make a tough play.”
“This win was needed,” Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said after the game. “We were struggling and had some losses that we felt could have gone the other way, so this was a great way to head into our bye. I’m really happy for the girls. They’ve been giving their best effort in practice all week.”
Sheffey led the Aztecs with 16 points while playing 37 minutes. The freshmen duo of Nat Martinez (12) and Naomi Panganiban (10) also scored double-digits.
The Aztecs made seven of their first 10 shots and led 15-10. The Rebels then went on 13-0 run and held a lead until Sheffey’s buzzer beater.
SDSU trailed by eight points at the half and stayed within striking distance of six to nine points for the entire second half.
The defense stepped up down the stretch to set up Sheffey’s heroics.
A pair of Panganiban free throws tied the game at 57 with 26 seconds left. UNLV’s Amarachi Kimpson was fouled with 3.2 seconds left but only made one of two free throws.
After a timeout to advance the ball, Sheffey got the ball at the top of the key and immediately drove hard to her left and pulled up through traffic to shoot a contested shot with 0.3 seconds left that went in as the buzzer sounded.
The win snapped a 10-game losing streak to UNLV.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Aztecs held the Rebels to one field goal in the final 4:30.
THE NOTE
Prior to the loss, UNLV had won 51 of their last 52 Mountain West games and 23 straight on the road.
UP NEXT
The Aztecs have a bye and then play at New Mexico on Saturday.