WBB Review: San Diego State Holds Utah State Off In Final Frame

SAN DIEGO – Utah State held on as long as it could, but San Diego State steadily pulled away as the second meeting between the two sides unfolded. The Aggies struggled to stop San Diego State’s role players and couldn't seem to get production from some of their own, falling 78-63. This broke up a two-game losing streak for San Diego State and evened out its conference record at 7-7 with an 18-9 record overall. For Utah State, the loss gave the Aggies a five-game losing streak and left them at 2-23 overall and 1-12 in Mountain West play.

After the Aztecs claimed a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes, CJ Latta, who owned the only two Aggie points thus far, and Mia Tarver activated the offense. Latta assisted Tarver on a triple and then Tarver hit another, assisted by Jamisyn Heaton. Tarver's back-to-back threes got the Aggies down by one, and Cheyenne Stubbs hit a layup to put the Aggies up one, and then another to go up three. Latta, who helped catalyze the Aggie run, capped it all off with a three-pointer to make it a 13-0 run for the Aggies and give them a 15-9 edge.

Natalia Martinez got the Aztecs restarted and knocked down a three, but Tarver hit another jumper and the Aggies enjoyed a six-point lead until Veronica Sheffey hit two layups with a contribution from Jazlen Green in between to tie the game. Heaton got the lead back for Utah State, but it was short-lived as Sheffey hit another layup to tie the game at 23 after 10 minutes of action.

The Aggies stayed right with the Aztecs in the lower-scoring second quarter and took a one-point lead with 3:43 left in the half. After that, the Aztecs twice claimed a seven-point in the closing minutes, but Utah State cut it back to one with 45 seconds left and entered the break behind by four, 40-36.

In the third, though the Aggies couldn’t ever regain the lead, they wouldn’t go away. They cut the deficit down to one three times, couldn’t get closer than that, and closed the quarter with yet another seven-point deficit. Over the course of the fourth quarter, the Aztecs finally broke through that threshold and their lead grew to 15 by the end of the game.

Utah State shot the ball well and wasn’t bothered physically early, but was hurt by a dangerous amount of turnovers, and consistently couldn’t keep up on the glass. After the first frame, the Aggies held a slight edge in the rebounding battle, leading eight to seven and shooting 10 of 14 from the field. By the end of the game, they hit 25 of 51 from the field and 7 of 17 from deep, but they slumped badly on the boards and lost the rebounding battle, 38-25, while allowing 46 points in the points with just 30 of their own. They had just 11 assists compared to 21 committed turnovers, 12 of them coming from Aztec steals, and logged only four steals of their own, forcing 13 turnovers and allowing 15 assists.

The Aggies kept both Adryana Quezada and Sheffey in check, showing a continuation of an impressive trend of shutting down opposing stars. Sheffey (10.8 PPG) and Quezada (10.4 PPG) lead the Aztecs in scoring, and Utah State held the duo to nine and six points, respectively. But, even with the stars under control, the scoring didn’t come out of nowhere. It primarily came from a well-established source, Kim Villalobos, who dropped 16 points, familiar territory for the Aztec senior. Villalobos also had 13 rebounds, an assist and three steals. 

Naomi Panganiban was right behind Villalobos with 15. Panganiban, one of San Diego State’s top shooters, had been in a slump with a 0 for 8 streak from behind the arc over her previous three games. She used this game as a chance to see the ball go through the hoop again and take a step towards breaking out of that slump, even if she didn’t do it with an overwhelming volume. She hit just 1 of 3 from deep, but went 5 of 10 from the field and 4 of 4 from the line.

Utah State tweaked its starting lineup again and tightened its rotation even more, playing just seven players – and that’s with two players, Heaton and Taliyah Logwood (both starters) fouling out. The Aztecs did the opposite and played 11 players without anyone fouling out. Denae Skelton missed a game for the first time all season, as did Isabella Tanedo (who has played in 21 games and averages 8.3 minutes) and Gracie Johnson (who has played in 22 and averages 10.9).

A trio of Aggies did all the heavy lifting with Stubbs, Tarver and Latta combining for 54 points while the rest of the team combined for just nine. Stubbs was in the lead with 20 points and three rebounds. Tarver had a big game and did everything she needed to. She was 7 of 13 from the field and a perfect 3 of 3 from beyond the arc. She added two rebounds, two assists and two steals to her line. Latta had 15 points, her most since Jan. 8 when she had 16 against Boise State. She was 6 of 10 from the field and 3 of 7 from deep while adding three assists.

While those three accounted for most of the scoring, the rest of the team pitched in around them. Sophie Sene had three points, seven rebounds and an assist; Heaton had two points, five rebounds, three assists, a block and two steals; Logwood had four points, three rebounds, an assist and a block; and Elise Livington didn’t score, but had three rebounds and an assist.

It’s an especially painful way to watch this particular iteration of Utah State lose, and it’s happened twice against San Diego State. The Aggies didn’t spot their opponent a massive lead to dig themselves out of, and they didn’t incinerate their lead in a few moments of reckless basketball. Instead, they matched up well, started off strong, and their lead slowly melted away and turned into a deficit that they didn't have time to overcome.

This team cares as much as a two-win team possibly can in the ides of February and it’s still trying, painstakingly, to sort out its myriad flaws and shortcomings. It keeps inching closer, but isn’t making progress fast enough. Against San Diego State, the Aggies shaved just four points off their differential from their first game this season. They'll be back in action on Wednesday against Air Force.