San Diego State’s women’s basketball team outscored Air Force 23-10 in the fourth quarter at Colorado Springs on Wednesday morning to overcome a 10-point deficit and defeat the Falcons 66-63 to open a 1 1/2-game lead in the race for fifth place in the Mountain West.
Meanwhile, the California Community College Tournament started Wednesday night with 10th-seeded Grossmont College (23-5) scoring a 71-60 victory over visiting Los Angeles Trade Tech.
The Aztecs, who trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half, are now 21-9 overall and 10-7 in conference play. A fifth-place finish would give the Aztecs a first-round bye in the conference tournament March 9-12 in Las Vegas.
Forward Cali Clark came off the bench to lead the Aztecs with 18 points and eight rebounds. Point guard Veronica Sheffey had 11 points. The Aztecs were trailing by nine points with seven minutes and 53 seconds to play when they went on a 17-2 run.
“I like the fight that our bench players had today,” said Aztecs head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson. Jazlen Green scored all seven of her points and Erin Houpt had five during during the fourth-quarter rally.
After trailing 21-10 with 1:51 to go in the first quarter, Grossmont College went on runs of 19-6 and 29-8 to take a 39-29 lead at halftime.
Freshman guard Anayla Anderson, who was named third-team all-state earlier this week, led the Griffins with 24 points and 10 assists. Anderson had a hand in 19 of the Griffins’ 26 baskets.
Grossmont’s two other all-Pacific Coast Athletic Conference players – guard Kyla Palpallatoc and forward Janea Wilson – each scored 12 points. Wilson also led the Griffins with 16 rebounds. Chaya Scott had seven points and 11 rebounds. Kiya Waters had seven points and 10 rebounds.
Grossmont will travel to seventh-seeded San Jacinto College on Saturday night for a second-round regional game.
Both PCAC champions will open play Saturday as No. 6 seeds following first-round byes. The San Diego City College (23-5) men will host the winner of Cerritos-Saddleback first-round game at 5 p.m. Palomar College (22-6) will host the winner of the Santa Barbara-Imperial Valley game at 7 p.m.
