SAN DIEGO – Now in the middle of the Mountain West Conference season, the San Diego State Aztecs women’s basketball team has found many ways and many heroes, with Kaelyn Hamilton providing more strong play off the bench in a 67-54 win over the Nevada Wolf Pack on Saturday afternoon.
Hamilton scored 9 of her 11 points in the third quarter, where SDSU (17-3, 11-0 Mountain West) was able to turn a 3-point halftime lead into a 12 point edge after three quarters. Naomi Panganiban scored a game-high 16 points while Bailey Barnhard battled foul trouble to score 13 points in just 14 minutes.
Nevada (7-14, 3-8) had pulled as close as within two twice, but the Aztecs out-scored the visitors 15-5 over the final four minutes of the third. Hamilton knocked down a left corner triple to push the lead back into double digits, then stole the in bounds pass after a Nat Martinez free throw for a layup in the final 10 seconds.
The Scarlet and Black second half saw several stretches where different players put their stamp on the game offensively. It was only appropriate that the Nevada-transfer Kennedy Lee served to help close the game out down the stretch, scoring all 7 points for the Aztecs on a run that helped put the game out of reach near the midway mark of the fourth.
Panganiban bounced back from being held without a bucket at Colorado State by knocking down her first jumper of the game on a long two in the first quarter. That make opened up lanes for her to slash to the basket, and helped her get to the line where she finished 7-for-7, including a stretch of five in a 43 second stretch where she was fouled on a drive and a 3-point try.
The Aztecs started strong, scoring on their first five possessions with a mix of feeding Barnard in the paint and guards taking advantage of driving lines. Nala Williams scored 7 consecutive points for SDSU, including making the first 3-pointer of the game that started a 7-0 run that led to an eventual 5 point edge after the first quarter.
But hoops were harder to come by in the second stanza, as after a driving finger-roll lay in by Panganiban and a Williams cut through the lane Nevada focused on taking away the driving lanes.
SDSU would get just one bucket in nearly the final six minutes before halftime, which came when Panganiban was forced to hoist from deep near the logo at center court and hit the rainmaker. From there, the Scarlet and Black missed their final seven shots from the field and the Wolf Pack went on a 7-0 run to pull within 30-27 at the break.
The Aztecs were out-rebounded 36-32 for the game, with the Wolf Pack able to corral 14 offensive boards and generate a 12-0 edge in second chance scoring. Maia Rosarion came off the bench to lead Nevada with 14 points, while Izzy Sullivan also added 12 points and two-time conference Freshman of the Week Skylar Durley was limited to 8 points on 3-for-13 shooting.
At halftime SDSU honored their 2010 Sweet Sixteen team, who upset both Texas and West Virgina to make the deepest NCAA Tournament run in program history. The 2010 team members spoke with the current team in the locker room after the game.
Up next the Aztecs have their only conference road back-to-back, with the first of three road trips in four games coming on Wednesday, Feb. 4 against Grand Canyon.
After winning the home meeting 87-69 on Jan. 7, SDSU tips off at 5 p.m. PT in their first visit to Global Credit Union Arena in Phoenix. The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network, with an audio-only stream also available on GoAztecs.com.
This story will be updated.
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