SAN DIEGO – This season the San Diego State women’s basketball team has had a long checklist of items they wanted to achieve.
The Aztecs ticked off a few more on Saturday afternoon, as they sent seniors Nala Williams and Sofia Kelemeni out with a win and finished conference play unbeaten at Viejas Arena in a 70-51 win over the Wyoming Cowgirls.
"We literally made it our goal at the beginning of the year, we had a team meeting and we wanted to defend our home court in conference," Williams said. "We just talked about it in (the locker room) how we were able to accomplish that goal, but we have many more left."
Guaranteed the No.1 seed in the Mountain West Championships by virtue of their win at Boise State on Wednesday night to clinch the regular season championship outright, SDSU (24-4, 18-1 Mountain West) used a pair of dominant stretches to keep the game largely under con.
Kaelyn Hamilton scored 11 of her career-high 18 points in a 16-0 run over a stretch of 4:24 that straddled the first and second quarters, as the Scarlet and Black built to a 21-point lead at the break thanks to the sophomore guard’s full-court sprint layup to end the half.
"Everyone is so talented, but then we also know our roles," Kelemeni said. "When we share the ball and we all play together, this is our strongest offense. Transition, sharing and shooting the ball, I think that's what gets us on runs and getting stops on the defensive end."
Up by 23 with just over two and a half minutes remaining in the third, Wyoming went on a 14-0 run powered by 10 of Jane Rumpf’s game-high 27 points to cut the deficit to eight points with six ticks over two minutes played in the fourth quarter.
So, Naomi Panganiban scored 7 of her SDSU-high 20 points as part of a 13-0 run where the Aztecs held the Cowgirls (9-19, 6-13) without a bucket for seven-plus minutes to re-establish order and close the game out strong.
After chants in the final minutes, Ellie Chen came into the game with just under a minute to play and made the final home bucket of the season with 6.8 seconds remaining to draw a final roar of delight from the Scarlet and Black crowd.
Along with the 10-0 mark in Mountain West play, the 14-1 overall home record matched the 2011-12 team for best winning percentage on Steve Fisher Court since the Scarlet and Black went 15-0 at home in the 2008-09 season.
"It's always great to win on senior day," head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said. "Wyoming was playing without their best player, so I was hoping we'd come out with some fight. I thought we did. Had some lulls and were able to answer when we made their runs.
"Proud of the last two games, we've found a way when things weren't going well and handled the adversity well, which is always great when you're going into tournament time."
Derrick Tuskan - SDSU Athletics
San Diego State head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson stands with Sofia Kelemeni (6) and Nala Williams (14) during a pregame ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 at Viejas Arena. Image courtesy of SDSU Athletics
Prior to the game the Aztecs honored their two seniors, both who joined the program as transfers prior to the season. Kelemeni was honored first, followed by Williams.
Kelemeni, who has been a part of the ‘game changers’ off the bench all season, was surprised before accepting her framed jersey and flowers by a pair of special messages on the video board that Terry-Hutson credited Maria Konstantinidou with helping to put together.
First, Sofia's two sisters and her god sister let her know how proud they were of her, speaking in Greek. Then her parents, her mother clad in SDSU Scarlet and Black and her father in a San José State top, shared their love and pride for their daughter, who will be graduating with a degree in molecular biology.
"I was surprised, I didn't know that my parents and family had a message, so it was a little emotional for me," Kelemeni said. "I have all of my support here, even though (my family is) not here, I feel support from my teammates and everybody here. This year has been so memorable for me, and I just can't wait to see what else we're going to do."
Kelemeni, who was joined by Konstandinidou as well as CJ Latta and Latta's parents for the ceremony, would go on knock down a bucket for the ninth time in her 21 appearances so far this season — the Aztecs are 8-1 when she scores.
Then, Williams was joined by members of her family to celebrate the soon-to-be communications grad’s season on The Mesa, where she quickly became a critical part of the team and a fan favorite. Coming off earning her second Mountain West Player of the Week honor of the season, Williams finished the game with 7 points and a game-high six assists, the 20th time she’s led the Aztecs in dimes this season.
Like the best leaders, Williams focused on the team when asked about where the biggest growth has been this season.
"Working together, because we are very individually talented, but picking our spots and knowing where to pass the ball, where people like the ball and understanding that has helped us throughout the season," she said.
In her only year playing DI basketball, Williams has been able to do whatever SDSU has needed her to. She posted a team-high three double-doubles, as well as 11 games with the most steals, only Panganiban (21) had more double-figure scoring games than Williams (16), and the senior even led the team in rebounds four times and blocks four times.
"I told (Kelemeni and Williams) that they have impacted this program in so many ways, more than they probably realize at this point," Terry-Hutson said. "Being able to raise a banner because they were on our team is a huge accomplishment for them, and obviously we're still playing for more.
"They both have impacted our program in different ways. Obviously Nala, a little bit more of a front runner, starting for us, but Sofia comes to practice every single day with a hard hat, doing the work. She's a blue-collar kid who has helped us get better in practice every day. Both of those kids are very, very important for the success that we've had."
The regular season closer is a final trip to altitude in U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. SDSU will face an Air Force team that they knocked off 62-51 on Dec. 31, 2025, and has dropped three of their last four games. Coming into the day the Falcons were ninth in the Mountain West standings.
Tip off is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 at Clune Arena, and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network, with an audio-only stream available on GoAztecs.com.
This story was updated at 5:52 p.m.
