SAN DIEGO — For the second straight home game, the San Diego State women’s basketball team nearly overcame a double-digit second half deficit, but ultimately fell to the Colorado State Rams 62-58 on Wednesday night at Viejas Arena.
The Aztecs (13-6, 2-4 Mountain West Conference) trailed by 10 points entering the third quarter after falling behind by as much as 16 points in the first half. Veronica Sheffey scored 15 points while Naomi Panganiban added 13 points, both scoring 11 points apiece in the second half to help the Scarlet and Black scrap their way back into it.
“I thought we did a better job of trying to take advantage of their switches and their aggressive defense and obviously played a much better second half,” said head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson. “We just can’t keep digging ourselves holes.”
Colorado State (13-5, 4-1) completed the season series sweep on the strength of strong efforts from a duo of freshman guards, as Kloe Froebe had an 18 points and 18 rebounds double-double and Brooke Carlson scored 15 points. Graduate forward Emma Ronsiek added 15 points with a trio of 3-pointers, but was held to 6 of 16 shooting.
After a trio of 4 point leads in the first quarter, SDSU dug a hole by being outscored 17-4 in the second where they made just 2 of 18 shots. After Adryana Quezada scored with 2:12 remaining in the first, the Aztecs went scoreless for the next 7:04 of game time and missed 15 straight shots until Cali Clark made a jumper off an inbounds play.
“We didn’t take advantage of how they were playing us, I think we need to do a better job of actually taking mental note of things and going from there,” Sheffey said.
All the while CSU went on a quarter-spanning 11-0 run, then tacked on 11 more in a row before Panganiban’s driving score with six seconds remaining made it a 30-16 edge for the visitors at halftime.
“I thought we were just playing selfish basketball, and I do not think one kid on our roster is selfish,” Terry-Hutson said. “I thought we could have shared the ball and got more reversals — there was no flow in the first half.”
SDSU’s offense perked up in the second half, sparked by hitting their first 3-pointer of the game when Panganiban nailed one from deep on the left wing in the final seconds of the shot clock. The Aztecs went on runs of 5-0 and 7-0 to pull within 5 points with just over a minute remaining, but Froebe knocked down a jumper and Carlson split a free-throw trip to make it 45-37 after three.
Trailing by 10 with 7:32 to play after a Froebe layup, Panganiban sparked a Scarlet and Black run by knocking down a pair of free throws after getting fouled on a driving attempt. Nat Martinez, coming off earning her third Mountain West Freshman of the Week honor, nailed a left corner triple off one of Panganiban’s four assists to cut it to a one-possession game, then Quezada’s jumper made it 9 points in a row and a 49-48 deficit.
“We got a couple of buckets starting in the second half and that just gave us momentum,” Sheffey said. “ That was our true basketball that we played in the second half.”
The Rams responded with a 7-0 run of their own before a driving score from Panganiban and then a two free-throw trip and a layup by Sheffey kept SDSU within 2 points with under a minute to go. CSU split their bonus free-throws, then Sheffey made another pair of free throws after her driving attempt rolled off the rim to pull within 1 point again, but the visitors were able to close out by making their shots at the line.
“I’m going to take the connectivity and us playing with a sense of urgency in the second half and being able to execute on both side of the ball, not just scoring the ball (to build on),” Terry-Hutson said.
Quezada notched another double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Martinez scored all of her 7 points in the fourth quarter, while Kim Villalobos grabbed 13 rebounds and had four assists, but finished 2 of 9 from the field.
The Aztecs were coming off a split road trip, earning the program’s largest ever win over the Nevada Wolf Pack in Reno, 81-69, behind 20 points from Quezada and 18 points from Sheffey on Jan. 8. They rallied from an early 10 point fourth quarter deficit at Wyoming to pull within 2 points twice, but fell 78-71 despite a career-high 18 points from Clark and 15 apiece from Martinez and Quezada.
“Adversity happens…it’s not where we want to be, but we can’t have a mindset of hanging our heads at all,” Sheffey said. “I have another opportunity on Saturday, and we have to keep that mentality through the rest of the season — each game is an opportunity to get better.”
SDSU is back on the road at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18 against Utah State at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, then returns to The Mesa to face San José State at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22.