Women’s Hoops: SDSU stuns MW tourney top seed UNLV, 71-59
The Aztecs will face Wyoming in the tournament championship on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
San Diego State delivered a stunning upset in a physical battle, taking down No. 1 seed UNLV, 71-59, to advance to the conference tournament final.
The odds were stacked high against SDSU in their match against UNLV at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Head Coach Stacie Terry-Hutson recalled seeing a report that gave her team a “91.3% chance to lose.”
“We just took that personal. We feel like we’re a good team,” Terry-Hutson said. “We know UNLV is very good and they deserve all the respect, but we’re a good team too… we were trying to show everybody that we were.”
The Aztecs (24-9) wasted no time proving their point. SDSU’s defense set the tone early, smothering a Lady Rebels squad (25-7) that averaged 75.5 points per game on their way to a regular season title. The Aztecs held UNLV to just 7-of-30 shooting in the first half, including a scoreless stretch in the final four minutes before the break.
SDSU was up 33-20 at halftime.
A key defensive focus was limiting UNLV’s star guard Amarachi Kimpson. The All-Conference playmaker struggled in the first half, missing all four of her attempts.
“Let me give her flowers, she’s the engine that makes them go,” Terry-Hutson said. “I think she’s a great player. We just tried to make it a little more challenging for her…I don’t think it was anything we did.”
Kimpson finally broke through in the third quarter, sinking a tough crossover push shot in the paint that led to an and-one opportunity, as UNLV tried to cut into SDSU’s lead.
The Aztecs, however, had an immediate answer. A three-pointer from Adryana Quezada and a layup from Veronica Sheffey sparked a 5-0 run, keeping SDSU in control.
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Jazlyn Green added to the surge, burying back-to-back threes to stretch SDSU’s advantage to 21 points with 3:16 left in the third quarter. She went 2-for-2 from deep in the period before taking an unintentional elbow to the face from UNLV’s Alyssa Brown late in the quarter.
But the Lady Rebels weren’t finished. UNLV closed the quarter on a 6-0 run, trimming SDSU’s lead to 50-36.
Their momentum carried into the fourth, as an aggressive zone-trap defense rattled SDSU. The Aztecs managed just four points and committed four turnovers in the first four minutes, allowing UNLV to slice the deficit to eight with 5:54 remaining.
SDSU, the tournament's No. 4 seed, however, found answers in crunch time. A full-court pass set up Cali Clark for a fastbreak layup, pushing the lead back to nine. Two more transition buckets in the final two minutes sealed the upset, officially ending UNLV’s bid for a fourth consecutive conference tournament title.
While SDSU’s defense shut down the UNLV juggernaut, the Aztecs also delivered offensively, with five players scoring in double figures. Sheffey led with 15 points, while Panganiban added 14 in a team-high 33 minutes.
“Our goal was to win a championship, and that’s what we came to do,” Terry-Hutson said. “We’re not done… we care more about the team goal than individual statistics.”
She emphasized the need to stay focused.
“This was a great win, and much respect to UNLV, but we still have another game to play,” she said. “What I need to make sure I prepare my kids for is that this isn’t the end. We have to be ready for tomorrow because either of those teams are going to come out and fight.”
The Aztecs will face Wyoming in the tournament championship on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
