While folks may think of a trip to the Bahamas as relaxing and carefree, it was everything but for the San Diego State women’s basketball team as they split their pair of showcase games at the Battle 4 Atlantis event at Paradise Islands, Bahamas.
After scrapping through a ‘good ugly’ win over the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks on Saturday, the Aztecs (4-3) had to deal with constant defensive pressure and a 6-foot-6 post monster as they fell to the Penn State Lady Lions on Monday.
Advertisement
The Imperial Arena is held in a literal ballroom, but the beauty of the venue seemed to only amplify the fight of each team. Here’s how the showcase played out:
Defense keys Scarlet and Black comeback
Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson had been looking to see her team show that they could handle and punch, get back to it and keep going.
After falling behind by as much as 13 points in the second quarter, the Aztecs showed the kind of grit needed to get through an ‘ugly’ game as they held Maryland Eastern Shore to 16 second half points and rallied for a misleadingly comfortable 58-45 win.
“Our defense in the second half gave us some life,” said head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson. “(UMES) made the game ugly in a good way, and I thought we didn’t match their toughness in the first half, so I was proud we were able to match their toughness and get back to what we do.”
Advertisement
Bailey Barnhard scored a career-high 15 points while also leading the team in rebounds (8) and equaling Nat Martinez with five fouls drawn. Kennedy Lee added 12 points and seven boards, while Nala Williams dished eight assists for the first time at the DI level with six rebounds and Naomi Panganiban added 11 points.
SDSU scored the final 5 points of the first half, then scored the first 8 points of the second half to turn a 29-19 deficit with 2:35 left in the second quarter into a 32-29 lead after 2:20 of the third.
The killshot came in the fourth quarter, as Panganiban tripled to start a 9-0 run for the Scarlet and Black. Barnhard’s depth charge with 75 seconds remaining served to close the fridge and leave everything to cool.
“The coaches always say ‘memory like a goldfish’,” Barnhard said, noting that ‘they always forget’, so “we’ve just got to move on, take on the next game and do what we do best.”
Advertisement
Constant pressure and a post proves too much
After hanging within a point through the first quarter, San Diego State couldn’t out-shoot their turnovers as Penn State pulled away for an 83-67 win.
The Lady Lions turned 14 first half SDSU turnovers into 21 points, building a 43-28 edge at the break that the Scarlet and Black couldn’t overcome.
“I thought in the first, third and fourth quarters we played and competed at a high level,” Terry-Hutson said. “But to beat a good team like that, you can’t have a quarter where you score 7 points. So I thought there were some really good things that we did and some things that we can go back and work on, but I’m proud of us and there’s a lot to build on.”
Advertisement
SDSU made just 3 of 13 from the field in the second quarter, while the Lady Lions had four players make a pair of field goals. Their safety blanket, redshirt junior center and Big Ten Weekly Honor Roll recipient Gracie Merkle had a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds for the game.
Nat Martinez scored a career-high 24 points, knocking down 5 of 10 from 3-point land while also trailing only Barnard (who had five) with four rebounds. But the 43-28 halftime deficit was the closest the Aztecs would come the rest of the way, as Penn State’s lead grew to as much as 23 and only stayed below 20 for the final 5:43.
“I thought tonight we shot the ball a little better, we’d been struggling to shoot it a little bit, we shot it a little better,” Terry-Hutson said. “We’ve got to be more consistent, not just with (Martinez and Panganiban), but with the entire team. We’re going to work on that.
“Defending at a high level, getting into some shape…I’m going to give them some time off because we have the time, but we’ve got to grow our offense, we’ve got to grow our defense.”
Advertisement
Up next
After a 12-day break, the Aztecs’ final non-conference home game will be against the Pacific Tigers at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7. It will be a Filipino Heritage Game, with the first 500 fans receiving Filipino-themed t-shirts.
