SAN DIEGO — San Diego State Women's Basketball started their season off with a 76-48 win against Cal State San Marcos on Monday night at Viejas Arena.
"Basketball season is here and so excited to get on the floor with the team...I thought we had a good opponent San Marcos," said head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson. "They did some things that exposed us, so we gotta go back and watch the film get better, but overall, I thought we did a good job."
The starting five, which included forwards Kim Villalobos and Adryana Quezada, with guards Veronica Sheffey, Meghan Fiso and Naomi Panganiban played the first five minutes of the first quarter then a complete rotation off the bench happened. The second wave, or what coach Terry-Hutson calls their "game changers" finished out the first quarter.
The rotation from the starting five were to set up the team's heavy-hitters including forwards Cali Clark and Khylee Pepe and guard Erin Houpt.
"They come in and affect the game like Erin did, like Cali Clark, like Khylee Pepe did, like those kids that came off the bench," Terry-Hutson said. "So we don't want to put a lot of stock in starting. We want to make sure we're giving to the game and doing something towards the win."
It was Houpt's first game back since missing all last season. Her comfort on the court showed with 13 points, many from outside the paint.
"It was really exciting for me. I mean, I've been here for about a year and a half now, but this is my first time playing, so I've been looking forward to it the whole time I've been here, so it was a really fun time for me," Houpt said.
Among those starters, true freshmen Panganiban, is one of the first freshmen to start in a season opener since Sophia Ramos in 2018.
"She (Panganiban) just does a great job of doing the little things. She's really talented as far as sharing the ball and passing the ball," Terry-Hutson said. "She has a great feel for the game offensively, were going to challenge her to be better defensively to stay on the floor more."
Spreading the minutes among the five to six players coming off the bench is something the coaching staff plans to continue experimenting with.
"The beauty of this team is we're pretty deep and we have a lot of weapons, so you're going to see a lot of people," Terry-Hutson. "I think we played 11 people in the first quarter. I wouldn't be surprised at that moving forward."
The Aztecs need to improve on sharing the ball and executing easier passes for easier shots.
Containing the ball and fouling, giving the opponent less chances at the free throw line.
Offensively in the second quarter their were nine straight missed shots but defensively San Marcos were pushed out the paint upwards three to five minutes.
"Just because they didn't score didn't always mean it was great defense. So we're going to go back and watch the film and really see where we can tighten that up a little bit," Terry Hutson said. "Like I said, I thought we gave up too many drives to the rim, and then not only did we compound that mistake, but we fouled at the end, so we need to trust our rotations, trust our defense."
The depth within the Aztec roster was put to work, with the veterans and first year players working together to play at a different pace and gain more possessions.
The next home game will be on Monday, Nov. 11 at 6pm against Idaho State.