LOGAN, Utah – The San Diego State women’s basketball team (12-3, 6-0) overcame an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to win at Utah State (6-9, 2-4) 73-72 Saturday afternoon. Naomi Panganiban, who had a season-high 23 points, hit a game-winning contested jumper with four seconds left to extend SDSU’s win streak to eight games and keep the Aztecs undefeated in conference play.
“We found a way to win and that’s all that matters,” Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said after the game. “No matter how we played or what the score was, it’s still a W in the win column.”
Panganiban split a double-team to score a driving lay-in with 29 seconds remaining to put SDSU up two points, but the Aggies’ Paloma Munoz Herreros hit a corner three with 14 seconds left to put the Aggies up one. Utah State had fouls to give and used two of them before Naomi hit the game-winner, a pull-up jumper from 15 feet out.
“We knew we were going to get a midrange shot,” Terry-Hutson explained. “Naomi plays better when she’s mad and she played really well for us today and made some big shots.”
Utah State got the ball down low to Sophie Sene, but Kennedy Lee and Alyssa Jackson swarmed her, and she missed with a second remaining as SDSU escaped with the victory.
“They drew up a good play, but we told them not to foul, and we did a good job of walling up, going straight up and securing the rebound,” Terry-Hutson praised.
Panganiban scored 11 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Lee has 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds while Nala Williams added 11 with four assists.
The Aztecs jumped out to a 21-13 lead, but the Aggies responded with an 8-0 run to tie it. SDSU would hold a 36-32 lead at the halftime break with 22 of their 36 points coming in the paint
Utah State began the second half on a 16-4 run to grab an eight-point lead. The Aggies outscored SDSU 24-11 in the third quarter, going 7-for-12 from the field and 8-for-9 from the line while the Aztecs were 4-for-15 from the floor and 0-for-7 from three.
The Aztecs fell behind by as much as 11 points with 8:04 remaining but then went on an 8-0 run fueled by back-to-back three from Utah State transfer CJ Latta and Panganiban. SDSU would make six field goals in a row and finally took the lead with 4:51 left when Nala Williams hit a three.
Utah State retook the lead and led by three points with 3:01 left, but the Aztecs scored the next five to set up the last-minute drama.
The Aggies, who were limited to eight players due to injury, had four players score in double figures, led by Jamisyn Heaton’s 18.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Aztecs were 24-for-41 (58.5%) on two-point field goals and just 7-for-27 (25.9%) on threes.
THE NOTE I
SDSU is 14-4 in road games since the beginning of last year.
THE NOTE II
The Aztecs have had three separate eight game win streaks since the beginning of last season.
UP NEXT
SDSU hosts New Mexico for their Field Trip game Wednesday at 11 a.m. The Aztecs are expected to set their single game attendance record.