Over the past several seasons it’s been the San Diego State and rest of the Mountain West have had to deal with a bullying inside presence by the Wyoming Cowgirls. Bailey Barnhard and Aztecs flipped the script on Saturday afternoon with a comprehensive 72-55 win at Arena Auditorium.
SDSU (10-3, 4-0 Mountain West) continually fed the ball to their sophomore post presence, as Barnhard scored a career-high 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting and the Aztecs outscored the Cowgirls (4-9, 1-3) in the paint 40-22 while out-rebounding the hosts 36-30 for their largest win in Wyoming since 1994.
After allowing the hosts to shoot 50% from the field in the opening half, working the ball inside to Barnhard was a key part of turning a 7-point deficit early in the second quarter into a 2-point lead at the half before blowing the game open in the third quarter.
Barnhard had five of the Scarlet and Black’s eight field goals in the second stanza, out-battling her way inside for scores and then knocking down a 3-ball. Alyssa Jackson followed up by hitting another from downtown to give the Aztecs a lead they would only allow the Cowgirls to level three times the rest of the half and the game.
The sophomore from Del Norte High had the first two buckets out of the half for SDSU, then the game blew open after a layup by Hayley Sandvik at 6:38 — it would be the final field goal in the third quarter for Wyoming.
Sofia Kelemeni sparked a 9-0 run on her second made 3-pointer of the game, as the space created by Barnhard allowed the Aztecs guards to attack the basket to the tune of five straight layups. Naomi Panganiban capped the quarter, which saw SDSU outscore the hosts 22-5, by knocking down a depth charge to make it 59-40 after 30 minutes.
It marked the third time in conference play that the Aztecs have held an opponent to under 10 points in a quarter. SDSU allowed just 20 points on 24.1% shooting by the Cowgirls, who made just 2 of 13 from downtown in the second half and just 3 of their final 18 attempts from beyond.
Panganiban was the only other Aztec in double-figures, scoring 13 points, while five players all snatched five rebounds (Kennedy Lee, Nala Williams and Kelemeni) as Nat Martinez and Kaelyn Hamilton also snagged four boards, with Martinez dishing four assists.
10 of the 11 of the players to appear had a field goal for SDSU, with each getting a make in the opening 20 minutes.
Wyoming had opened up hot from downtown, making four of their first seven tries from the land of plenty as part of a 10-0 run to put the Aztecs down seven, then another Malene Pedersen triple made it 19-12 with just under four minutes left in the opening quarter.
But the Aztecs were undeterred, getting their own 7-0 spurt to pull even after Kelemeni made a 3-pointer, Williams scored on a drive and Maria Konstantinidou to pull even, but a 3 and a driving score by Logann Alvarr gave Wyoming a 24-19 lead after one.
Pedersen, the Cowgirls leading scorer coming into the game, had 17 points as did Sandvik, but both shot under 50.0% from the field. Wyoming had just five players score in the game and four made field goals, as the quartet of Pedersen, Sandvik, Alvar and Jane Rumpf attempted 51 of the hosts 57 shots.
San Diego State returns home for a matchup against the Grand Canyon Lopes on Wednesday, January 7. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Viejas Arena, with the game being broadcast on the Mountain West Network.