SAN DIEGO – The momentum of the San Diego State women’s basketball program continues to build, as on an afternoon where the team honored last season’s champions, the Aztecs showed why they’re “All In’ this season in their home opening win before a crowd of 2,528.
Five players scored in double figures, led by Nat Martinez while Alyssa Jackson scored a career-high 11 points, as the 95-35 win by the Aztecs (1-1) over DII Cal State San Marcos at Viejas Arena was their highest-scoring debut on The Mesa since the 2014-15 season.
"Coming off the UCLA game I thought we played really, really hard and had some stretches where we played really good basketball—we showed them the good and the bad. I thought they tried to come out tonight and really try to extend the good moments, and I thought we did a good job of that," said head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson.
Through the third quarter, all 11 of SDSU’s players that got in against No. 3 UCLA found their way into the scorebook. But after holding the Cougars to eight points in the first quarter and 14 in the second, the Scarlet and Black defense made like a boa constrictor by allowing 8 points and 5 points over the final two frames.
Martinez was the first Aztec in double-digits, stepping in to knock down a mid-range jumper off a Bailey Barnhard screen out of SDSU’s first timeout of the game in the second quarter. The sophomore former Piedmont Highlander knocked down four of her first five shots, en route to all 14 points coming in the first half.
Two more later joined her, as Naomi Panganiban knocked down a pair of second stanza triples en route to scoring 13 points overall and Nala Williams scored 8 of her 12 on slashing drives to the hoop. The decisive cuts to the paint by the transfer from Cal State Dominguez Hills also helped her generate a team-high four assists in the opening 20 minutes and five for the game, as the Aztecs had helpers on 19 of 34 field goals.
Jackson, in her first game back on Steve Fisher Court since March 5, 2024, knocked down a basket every quarter, including hitting both of her looks from beyond the arc as the Aztecs made 11 from the land of plenty.
"I had a really great time cheering my teammates on last season, but I really took a lot of time last year to work on myself and just getting better for Stacie because she gave me the opportunity to redshirt," Jackson said. "I (worked) really hard to get back to who I was coming out of high school and putting that on display tonight."
The third quarter saw sophomore Utah State transfer CJ Latta splash twice from beyond the arc, as well as the first buckets of the game for Barnhard and freshman guard Kendall Mosley, which gave all 11 of the rotation players a basket. SDSU closed the period on another 13-0 run.
Mosley finished with 11 points as well, hitting two of her three triples for the game in the final quarter.
Trevor Beal - San Diego State Athletics
San Diego State's 2025 Mountain West Tournament championship banner newly hangs in the rafters at Viejas Arena. Image courtesy of SDSU Athletics
SDSU opened the game as if shot out of a cannon, scoring on their first three possessions on slashing layups over the initial 54 seconds. They established control when Williams drove to create an and-one for Kennedy Lee, then in the half court Jackson scored the first bench points by splashing a 3-pointer.
Walk-on guard Ellie Chen checked in at the 3:25 mark of the fourth quarter, joined by 6-4 forward Aubrey Cook as the freshman made her NCAA debut. Chen scored the final basket of the game
SDSU had three runs of 10-plus, going for 13 in a row in both the second and third quarters, before running off 16-straight in the fourth. After the Cougars made the opening bucket 11 seconds into the final frame, they missed 12 of their final 13 shots.
The pregame ceremony saw the unveiling of the 2025 Mountain West Tournament championship banner, as well as the presentation of the championship rings to the players. Then, there was another sign of the program’s rise in prominence: a delay before the tip-off as the crowd all stood and clapped in unison while waiting for the television broadcast on KUSI to begin.
All five of the Scarlet and Black’s non-conference women’s basketball games will be locally broadcast, a first in program history. Up next is a 6 p.m tip against CSUN on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at Viejas Arena.
In another program first, the women’s team will be wearing a turquoise N7 alternate uniform against the Matadors honoring Native American Heritage Month. Fans will be able to purchase the uniforms in an online auction at GoAztecs.com, with proceeds benefiting Inter Tribal Sports, the SDSU Native Resource Center and SDSU Dept. of American Indian Studies.
"For us to celebrate, raise a banner and get out rings for last year's accomplishments was really, really fun, and then I said we've got to put that aside. We've got to work on getting new rings, new banners, so I thought this was a great step in the right direction," Terry Hutson said.
This story was updated at 9:55 p.m
