What’s the biggest difference between being the ‘hunter’ versus the ‘hunted’?
To the San Diego State women’s basketball team, it has been about acknowledging that they will get the best shot from every team, but remain unfazed and continue to put in the work and refine their craft ahead of the 2026 Mountain West Championships.
After earning the program’s fourth Mountain West regular season title and seventh overall, then having four people acknowledged in the conference awards, according to head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson the Aztecs (25-4, 19-1 Mountain West) spent their practice time working on such fine details as how to handle certain ball screens.
“(It’s about) keeping the main thing the main thing,” the 2026 Mountain West Coach of the Year said during media availability on Thursday. “We’re trying to focus on the standard that has been set and those habits that have developed over the season, so we don’t get too much wrapped up in all the things that are going on the outside.
“It’s a different mentality…but they’ve responded. They don’t get too high or too low, they’re competitors, they want to win and that’s what has been driving us so far.”
If last season the super power of the now second-year core four — Naomi Panganiban, Natalia Martinez, Bailey Barnhard and Kaelyn Hamilton — was that they didn’t know what they couldn’t do, Terry-Hutson highlighted how loose the team has been, while also having many voices that can step up in the locker room at different times.
"I'm looking forward to everything about it,' Panganiban, an All-Mountain West selection, said. "I love playing in the big moments, I love playing in front of my family that gets to come to Las Vegas and all of our fans.
"Honestly, everything about the tournament is just so fun, and we get to bond a lot as a team. We'll be there for a long time, hopefully."
Add to that the Mountain West Player of the Year season that Nala Williams had as well as Kennedy Lee’s inside-outside game to go with her focus on defensive boards, the starting lineup has been stout and reliable.
Meanwhile the bench, led by Hamilton, has seen strong contributions all season with the return of Alyssa Jackson after a redshirt year, as well as critical minutes from CJ Latta and Maria Konstantinidou. All average more than 13 minutes per game as part of a unit that has become known as the ‘game-changers.’
"Whether we're struggling to get a bucket or we can't stop somebody who's going on a run, that's our job to come in and try and lift everybody up or give something that wasn't already going on," Mountain West Sixth Player of the Year Hamilton said.
The recipe has worked so well this season that as part of Aztecs’ 19-1 Mountain West conference season, SDSU only had two games where they trailed more than they led and had five games where their opponents never took a lead.
There were just two games (at Grand Canyon on Feb. 4 in what was their only loss and at Boise State on Feb. 25) where the Scarlet and Black trailed for the majority of the game. Even more astoundingly, SDSU has led for 67.8% (545:56) and trailed in just 18.6% (150:01) of their 805 minutes of conference action this season.
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Image courtesy of the Mountain West Conference
But one need only go as far back as last season to see how much that matters in the Mountain West tournament, where the Aztecs dispatched the dominant regular season champion UNLV Lady Rebels in the semifinals en route to winning the title and automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
One of the odd quirks of scheduling is that the Scarlet and Black open their tournament title defense against one of the two teams they closed the regular season against, and will face No. 9 seed Air Force thanks to the Falcons’ 60-53 win over Wyoming on Saturday afternoon.
The Aztecs earned a 62-51 win over the Falcons on New Year’s Eve day at Viejas Arena, then closed the regular season by beating Air Force 74-57 on the road. All-Mountain West senior guard Milhanie Perry set the Academy’s all time leading scoring mark against the Aztecs in the finale and led the conference overall averaging 17.16 points per game.
The second portion of the top half of the bracket features No. 4 seed New Mexico facing No. 5 seed Boise State after the Broncos took out No. 12 seed San José State 68-51 on Saturday. The Lobos were one of two teams that SDSU did not see twice as they won the lone meeting at home before a record crowd, while the Scarlet and Black took both games against the Broncos, though the game at Boise State needed a gritty comeback to win.
Meanwhile the bottom half of the bracket features No. 2 seed UNLV, whose five conference losses this season are more than they had in the previous three seasons (three losses) combined, but in addition to last year's regular season Mountain West crown, the Lady Rebels took both the season and tourney titles for the previous three seasons in a row. Through the whole regular season, UNLV third in the conference in scoring and second in rebounding.
No. 3 seed Colorado State gave SDSU two physical games and sports the top scoring and field goal percentage defense in the conference, and of course No. 6 seed Grand Canyon is the only team to top the Aztecs. The Lopes had the top 3-point percentage defense in conference play and won three of their last four heading into the tournament.
San Diego State opens their defense of their tournament title against Air Force at noon on Sunday, March 8 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network, with an audio-only broadcast available on GoAztecs.com