San Diego State ends the day with a win

The third-seeded San Diego State Lady Aztecs held on for a 60-51 win over No. 6 Wyoming in the last game of the day at the Mountain West Conference women’s basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Quenese Davis had 16 points to lead San Diego State, which didn’t lead by more than seven points until the final seconds.

Four players finished in double-figures, including Jessika Bradley, who had 11 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

The Lady Aztecs led by no more than four and no more than one from the 16:52 mark of the second half until just 4:03 remained in the game. Wyoming took the lead at that point, but San Diego State closed the game on a 12-2 run.

“It was a funny game in that we were able to maintain the lead, albeit by about one or two points, throughout the game for the most part,” San Diego State coach Beth Burns said. “That’s the kind of basketball you get in March.”

Wyoming stayed in the game largely on the efforts of one player.

“Hillary Carlson was just huge tonight. She literally kept us in the basketball game,” Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said. “It always is a team effort, but without Hillary we don’t have a chance in the last three minutes. She really demonstrated the caliber player she is and she’s only getting better.”

Carlson finished the game with 25 points, including 17 in the first half, and 18 rebounds.

“I just wish it would have come in a win,” she said.

Legerski saw the rest of the team struggle offensively, as the rest of the Cowgirls made just 11 of 47 from the field.

“In postseason play, everyone has to make plays. Unfortunately we didn’t have shots go down from some players who usually make them,“ he said.

The coach was pleased his team was able to be competitive despite the shooting woes.

“We shot just 22 percent from the field in the second half and that’s a credit to San Diego State’s defense,“ he said. “But our players just kept fighting and finding ways to stay in the basketball game. We fought very hard tonight.”

Coco Davis had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists for San Diego State, which also got 13 points from Paris Johnson.

San Diego State once again proved to be the much more comfortable team in transition. The Lady Aztecs had seven steals and 11 blocks, which helped lead to 14 fast-break points. Wyoming had none.

The Lady Aztecs will play second-seeded Brigham Young in the second semifinal on Friday afternoon.

Hope and a prayer

San Diego State allowed 23 offensive rebounds in the game.

It has been a troublesome area all year for coach Beth Burns.

“I was concerned about it on Oct. 15, Oct. 16, Oct. 17, Oct. 18, Oct. 19,” she said. “ I’ve been concerned all year and you better believe we’ve worked on it every day. I’ve been hoping we would get better at it, but hope is not a strategy. All we can do at this point in time is do the best we can.”

Please pick us

Wyoming coach Joe Legerski expressed his desire to be chosen by the WNIT selection committee.

“There are 128 teams in the country that will play in the postseason and I feel we are among the 128 best teams,” he said.

He feels his team’s 19 victories should be good enough, but acknowledges the decision is out of his hands.

“I think we’re deserving of a postseason bid, but I’m not on the committee,“ he said. “This is one of the best groups I’ve been associated with. Nineteen wins is a tremendous season and hopefully we’ll be able to continue playing.

Which is it?

One of the main promotions going on at the Thomas & Mack Center this week is a ticket giveaway to a couple of shows on the Strip.

Tickets are being given away to both “Jersey Boys” and “Phantom” to random fans on the jumbotron.

Each time, the announcer says, “Who wants to see the No. 1 show in Las Vegas? Make some noise if you want to see…”

Sometimes it’s “Jersey Boys” and sometimes it’s “Phantom.”

They can’t both be the No. 1 show in Las Vegas.

As Jerry once said in Seinfeld when there was a dispute over a t-shirt proclaiming its wearer to be the “World‘s Greatest Dad,“ “I don’t know how official these rankings are.”

Recommendation

If you see the highlights from the Big Sky championship game come on television, don’t change the channel.

If the replay of the game comes on, pull up a chair.

Montana staged an amazing comeback from down 20 points to win. Anthony Johnson had 34 of his tournament-record 42 points in the second half for the Grizzlies.

Up next

The men take center state tomorrow with four quarterfinal games.

There is a clear-cut favorite in each game and if all should hold serve, Friday would set up to be a tremendous night of basketball.

Top-seeded New Mexico gets things started in the early game at noon.

UNLV will play Utah, which swept the Rebels in the regular season.