Building out of the break, Filipino Heritage Game and shot share

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s basketball team survived a strong second half push from the University of the Pacific to notch a win on Sunday afternoon, earning their fifth win in non-conference play and closing out the home non-conference slate with a 4-1 mark at Viejas Arena.

With just one non-conference game remaining for the Scarlet and Black, here are some thoughts from the Aztecs’ (5-3) 70-68 win before one of their most-attended non-conference crowds of the season over the Tigers (4-5):

Though both games at the Battles 4 Atlantis showcase weren’t televised, one could hear from listening to SDSU play-by-play voice Chris Elo that the Aztecs faced a couple of tough games.

Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson went so far as to say their first game against Maryland Eastern Shore was “ugly in a good way,” and then Naomi Panganiban said that the team was “rattled” in the second quarter against Penn State.

“I keep going back to the word ‘toughness,’” Terry Hutson said. “We really focused a lot of our time on competing… I was worried about the wind, getting tired—and they did, but I was impressed in the first half that we were able to fight through some of that.”

Coming back to play after nearly two weeks with a good Thanksgiving break included, the Aztecs hit 50% of their shots (14 of 28) for the field while making 9 of 16 from 3-point land. Then in the second half things changed, and that competitiveness needed to show.

After converting a 11-2 edge in points off turnovers with a 9-6 margin in the first half, the Tigers turned things around in the second half by generating nine SDSU giveaways and committing only four. Still, the Aztecs made the most of TOs for the game, a 16-9 point edge despite Pacific earning a plus-two edge (13-15) in turnover differential.

Terry-Hutson made sure to shout-out Nat Martinez, who scored 12 points with a team-best four helpers while also snaring five rebounds — she made a critical fourth quarter 3-pointer as part of her 5 points in the second half.

“She always gives it, I’m looking for more people to do that as well…I think we saw that in spurts from some of our other people,” Terry-Hutson said.

Panganiban represented the Philippines in their successful FIBA tournament over the summer that booked their opportunity to earn Gilas Pilipinas Women’s chance to qualify for the FIBA World Cup for the first time.

So, before the game, an SDSU student sang the national anthem of the Philippines and the first 500 fans amongst the crowd of 2,365 received special Filipino Heritage Day shirts. 

“It was so awesome just to be able to represent my Filipino culture, my family, and just seeing everybody there,” Panganiban said. “Hearing the national anthem for the Philippines being (sung) made me a little emotional, just to be on that stage and represent. It’s awesome.”

The sophomore La Jolla Country Day high grad was part of a Philippines team that knocked off Lebanon after taking it on the chin from eventual finalists Australia and Japan in the group stage, then battled South Korea in the qualification semi-finals. Panganiban equaled recent Duke graduate Vanessa De Jesus, averaging 13.2 points per game, with both’s 66 points ranking seventh in the tournament and their per-game average slotting eighth.

“Filipinos, we stick together, no matter the sport (and) no matter the event,” Panganiban said. “The Filipino community, we’re together — I think growing up with having those values and the value of sacrifice too,” Panganiban said.

That similar kind of sacrifice has also been a big part of SDSU’s rise over recent seasons, going 25-2 when having three or more players score in double-figures.

“It’s special, I think we have a lot of great talent, we have a lot of great people that can show up at any night, so just to have that it’s a huge relief off of each other, and just to play together it’s a great help,” Panganiban said.

Over the first three games, San Diego State knocked down 10 or more from beyond the arc.

On Sunday, after hitting 9 of 16 from the beyond in the opening half, it seemed like SDSU couldn’t miss. Then in the second half, where the team made just 2 of 12 and finished the game knocking down a tremendous 39.3% that proved the difference in the ball game.

Still, after having just five games last season with nine or more makes from downtown, having made 10-plus in their non-conference slate means the secret is out about SDSU for this season.

“Everyone knows that’s what we want to do,” Terry-Hutson said.

So, what did that mean against Pacific?

“They are either switching or running us off the line, and I thought we made a great adjustment to them switching everything,’ Terry-Hutson said.

“We were able to go inside more than what you’ve probably seen in the past, and that was the piece that we’ve been missing, points in the paint,” Terry-Hutson said.

Bear in mind, across the four straight possessions to end the half, all four of the buckets were either scored in low or created off the dribble drive by SDSU guards.

Coming into the game, 42.8% of the Aztecs’ shot attempts had come from beyond the arc, where they had made 29.8% of their tries — which ranked seventh in the Mountain West Conference.

Perhaps for that day it was the allure of the 56.3% (9 of 16) 3-point percentage in the first half that led the Scarlet and Black to shoot 28 of their 58 attempts (48.3%) from downtown for the game.

But it shouldn’t be a surprise then that by at least stalemating the paint battle at 26-26, the 11-8 edge in 3-point makes made the crucial difference in the game. And we mustn’t forget that it was a cutting back-post find of Alyssa Jackson by Kennedy Lee, whose paint bucket proved the winner on the day.

“We’ve got kids, we’re really, really deep. I’ve got kids who didn’t play a minute who should plate more, so I’ve got to figure out how I can get all these kids in and use our depth to our advantage,” Terry-Hutson said.

As SDSU looks to get their hackles and toughness up going into conference play, beginning against Fresno State at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 17, it’ll be a critical final non-conference test when they face Kansas State on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 9 a.m. PT on the road, with the game to be streamed on ESPN+ and an audio only broadcast on the Aztec Radio Network.