SAN DIEGO — San Diego State put on a 10-minute clinic Wednesday night at Viejas Arena, then leaned on its poise down the stretch to finish off Grand Canyon University, 87-69, in a Mountain West Conference matchup that felt decided early but was never entirely comfortable.
Behind what those inside the program believe may have been the best opening quarter in team history, the Aztecs (11-3, 5-0 MW) raced out to a 37-9 lead after the first, built a 31-point advantage early in the second quarter, and extended their win streak to seven games. SDSU remains unbeaten in conference play and is tied with UNLV atop the Mountain West standings.
“I was really, really encouraged by that first quarter,” head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said. “That might be the best first quarter that I've ever been associated with. And I've worked at LSU, UCLA, Illinois, some big-time programs.”
That first quarter bordered on surreal.
After a missed layup by Nala Williams on the opening possession, the Aztecs never looked back. Naomi Panganiban hit a 2-point jumper, Nat Martinez knocked down a three, Bailey Barnhard followed with another, Kennedy Lee added one more, and SDSU was off and running. By the time Panganiban finished a pair of layups to make it 15-5 less than four minutes in, the Aztecs had seized control.
The numbers were staggering: SDSU went seven for seven from three, hit four free throws, recorded nine assists against just one turnover, and shot 81.3% overall in the quarter. Six different players scored from beyond the arc, including Martinez, Barnhard, Lee, Kaelyn Hamilton, CJ Latta and Williams. Barnhard alone poured in 10 points in the opening 10 minutes, while Panganiban added eight.
By the first media timeout, SDSU was already 4-for-4 from deep and ahead 24-9. Out of the timeout, Latta drilled another three. Barnhard stayed hot, scoring twice more before Williams capped the quarter with a three of her own to send the Aztecs into the break up 37-9.
Watch highlights of the game. Credit: SDSU Athletics
“We shot the ball and defended at an elite level for 10 minutes,” Terry-Hutson said. “And if we can figure out how to do that for longer stretches, this team could be very dangerous.”
SDSU stretched its run to 18-0 spanning the end of the first and the start of the second quarter when Williams drove for a layup and converted the and-one, pushing the lead to its largest at 40-9. But Grand Canyon (3-12, 2-3 MW) refused to fold.
The Lopes began chipping away as the Aztecs cooled off from three-point range, missing their first attempt of the second quarter and settling in offensively. Though Martinez continued to connect from deep and SDSU entered halftime with 10 made threes, already above its conference-best average of 8.5 per game, GCU outscored the Aztecs 20-14 in the quarter. SDSU still led comfortably, 51-29, at the break.
The second half followed a similar script: SDSU landed punches, and GCU kept getting back up.
Lee scored twice early in the third, and Williams and Panganiban each came up with steals that led to easy baskets that contributed to the Aztecs going up 63-35. But GCU responded with an 8-0 run, trimming the margin and forcing SDSU to work. Lee’s late three helped stabilize things, and the Aztecs carried a 73-52 lead into the fourth.
Still, the Lopes weren’t done. Another 8-0 run midway through the final quarter cut the deficit to 10, 77-67, with under five minutes remaining. SDSU struggled to score from the floor, leaning on free throws as GCU continued to apply pressure.
That’s when the Aztecs found just enough.
Martinez drove for a layup with 3:11 left for SDSU’s first field goal of the fourth quarter, Panganiban followed with a bucket, and Lee was fouled grabbing an offensive rebound, sinking two free throws before Williams scored the final basket of the game to seal the 87-69 win.
“We lost the rest of the game,” Terry-Hutson said bluntly. “We just talked about it with our girls, and we can't have those lulls. And if we do, do we have the tenacity to pull ourselves back up out of it? And I thought we did.”
Despite being outscored in the second, third and fourth quarters, SDSU made the key stops when the margin shrank to ten late, a point Terry-Hutson emphasized.
“I think we made stops and then got a couple buckets,” she said. “So these are great challenges for us to continue to grow.”
The night also underscored the Aztecs’ balance and growth. SDSU finished with 12 made threes, shared the ball for 18 assists, and were a perfect 13 of 13 from the line.
Five players scored in double figures including Lee (18), Barnhard (14), Martinez (17), Panganiban (15), and Willams (12), who also had a team-high six assists and four steals.
SDSU shot 50.8% overall and 44.4% (12-27) from three.
For SDSU, the win checked an important box, protecting home court, while still leaving plenty to clean up.
“It’s an interesting place to be in right now, when you're able to win games and still feel that you could play better. We talked about majoring in the minors and focusing on the things that don't take a lot of talent. We talked about TNT. It takes no talent to set a good screen. It takes no talent to be the first to the floor. It takes no talent to talk and communicate on defense, and those are the things that we're trying to judge ourselves on, night in and night out. … If we could do those small things and major in the minors, the things that might not show up on a on a box score, we give ourselves a really good chance to win. And that's what we've been doing down this winning stretch, is, you know, focusing on those things.”
On a night defined by a historic first quarter, that mindset may be what keeps the Aztecs rolling long after the early fireworks fade.
Next Up
San Diego faces Utah State on Jan. 10 at 12 p.m. in Logan, Utah, another trip to a mountainous 4800 feet of elevation. The Mountain West conference has more teams that play at altitudes above 4500 feet than any other conference, making away games for the sea-level Aztecs a challenge regardless of the team’s record or NET ranking. Watch on the Mountain West Network.