BOISE, Idaho – The San Diego State women’s basketball team (23-4, 17-1) overcame an 11-point deficit to win at Boise State (22-7, 13-5) 66-64 to clinch the Mountain West regular season championship outright.
Playing against the second place Broncos, the Aztecs struggled offensively in the first half, scoring just 21 points and making one three. SDSU bounced back in the second half and scored 45 points with 10 three-pointers.
“I was disappointed with our effort or lack thereof in the first half,” Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said after the game. “We completely flipped the script in the third quarter when we came out and went on that 10-0 run. That was the effort and energy that we need to always play with.”
Naomi Panganiban paced the Aztecs with 19 points while Kaelyn Hamilton (13 points) and Bailey Barnhard (10 points) also scored in double figures.
The Aztecs committed four turnovers in the first five minutes of the game, but they were able to hold the Broncos to four first quarter field goals to keep the game close.
SDSU’s cold start continued in the second quarter, and they missed eight of their first nine shots and fell behind by as much as 11 points and trailed by eight at the half.
The Aztecs scored the first 10 points of the second half and eventually pushed their lead to six points only to see the Broncos go on an 11-3 run to retake the lead.
Panganiban hit back-to-back threes midway through the fourth quarter to give the Aztecs the lead for good. Although the Broncos did have the ball down by two with 24.8 seconds left but turned it over and then SDSU was able to make their free throws down the stretch to secure their program record 17th conference win on the year.
Tatum Thompson and Natalie Pasco led the Broncos with 14 points a piece.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Aztecs had four turnovers in the first five minutes of the game and just five for the remaining 35 minutes.
THE NOTE
Since the beginning of last year, SDSU is 37-2 when three or more players score 10+ points (16-0 this year).
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“We weren’t playing for the standings. We were playing for the standard.” Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson after the game
UP NEXT
The Aztecs host Wyoming Saturday at 1 p.m. in their final home game of the year.