San Diego, CA—It wasn’t pretty but San Diego State got it done on the defensive side.
The San Diego women’s basketball program (6-5, 0-0 WCC) lost its 2022 non-conference finale at San Diego State (9-2, 0-0 MWC), 68-45, on Saturday afternoon at Viejas Arena.
The first few minutes in the first quarter was tough to watch, both teams combined to make just one of their first 12 shots they put up. The San Diego Toreros didn’t score for the first 7:45 while the Aztecs had a scoreless stretch of 8:30.
“I think that was the worst first quarter we’ve had in a long time, but I knew it was going to be a defensive battle where the first to 60 was definitely going to win this game,” Terry-Hutson explained.
SDSU finally settled down and got their offense clicking to give the Aztecs a 18-5 advantage halfway through the second and coasted through the game after that.
The Aztecs held San Diego to just four first half buckets while forcing them into turning the ball over 13 times.
Kiera Oakry got going in the second quarter, scoring seven points in the period for the Toreros but she needed help offensively in the second half.
In the second half, SDSU came out smoking with a 12-2 run to put them up 22 points and they never looked back, going up by as much as 25.
The Aztecs shot 50% from the floor and held the Toreros to 28% shooting on the hardwood.
Oakry led the Toreros offense with 17 points and four boards. Ayanna Khalfani chipped in seven points and Laura Erikstrup grabbed 10 rebounds.
Erikstrup matched a career-high in rebounds with 10 on the afternoon. She is now averaging 8.0 rebounds per game over her last three contests.
San Diego were able to start to find their shot late in the fourth, they were not able to mount a sufficient comeback, as the Aztecs spread the court and hit open shots.
The Toreros out-rebounded their ninth opponent this season in the loss.
UP NEXT:
The Toreros will open conference play with a swing in the Pacific Northwest, opening with a game against Portland on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. The game will be streamed via the WCC Network.
SDSU is off for 10 days when they head to Florida for the Palm Beach Invitational where they’ll face Miami (Ohio) and Georgia on Dec. 20 and 21.
