SAN DIEGO – The Aztec women's basketball team (15-5, 5-2) erased a 13-point second half deficit to come back to beat New Mexico (10-9, 2-4) 65-51 inside Viejas Arena Thursday afternoon.
Playing in front of 4,150 fans, mostly loud elementary children attending Field Trip Day, the Aztecs finished the game on a 13-2 run and forced six turnovers in the game's final seven minutes.
"I'm really proud of our team," Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said after the game. "New Mexico is a good team that's well-coached and they came out and threw the first punch and did some things that they hadn't done a lot this season and took us out of what we wanted to do offensively. I'm proud of our staff and our kids, and we pivoted on our game plan and just locked down on the defensive end in the second half which helped us erase that deficit."
Asia Avinger led all players with 21 points, scoring 14 during SDSU's second half push. Sophia Ramos added 15 and Yummy Morris chipped in eight points and six rebounds.
The Lobos went on an early 8-0 run to go up 11-4 and then held a lead until the fourth quarter. New Mexico hit five three-pointers in the first quarter and then just six more the rest of the game.
While the Lobos started out hot from deep, the Aztecs wouldn't hit their first three until midway through the third quarter.
The Lobos' leading scorer Shaiquel McGruder had 10 points in the second quarter as New Mexico built their lead to as big as 12 points before taking a nine-point lead into the locker room at the half.
New Mexico's biggest lead was 13 at 44-31 early in the third quarter, but the Aztecs then went on a 13-3 run to cut the deficit to 47-44.
SDSU tied the game at 48 but couldn't take the lead and saw the Lobos push their lead back to seven at 59-52.
The Aztec defense then stepped up and SDSU then went on another run, this time a 9-0 one to finally take the lead at 63-61with 2:57 left, SDSU first's lead since they were up 4-3 in the opening minutes.
The teams then traded turnovers and missed shots for the final three minutes until Asia Avinger knocked down two free throws with three seconds left to ice the game.
"I was really impressed with our focus," Terry-Hutson said. "It wasn't our game plan to switch everything and we found that we needed to because they are such a good three-point shooting team. They don't need a lot of space, so we needed to switch them up and we all locked in and helped take away some of those easy looks that they weren't getting in the first half."
The Lobos had four players in double-digits and were led by McGruder's 15-point 10 rebound double-double.
STAT OF THE GAME
11 of New Mexico's 15 turnovers came in the second half and six came in the game's final seven minutes.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
"The energy was crazy. The kids are screaming the entire time and yelling our names, and I think it just adds to the energy on the floor and just encourages us." Asia Avinger on the noise inside Viejas Arena for Field Trip Day
THE NOTE
This was the largest second half comeback by the Aztecs since March 11, 2019, which was also 13 points against New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament.
UP NEXT
The Aztecs play at Wyoming Saturday at 5 p.m. PT.
Aztecs Rally Past New Mexico 65-61
