When Stacie Terry-Hutson saw the name of Cali Clark in the NCAA transfer portal last spring, San Diego State’s women’s basketball coach knew the 6-foot-3 forward was a perfect match for the Aztecs.
“We knew her,” Terry-Hutson said of the 6-foot-3 forward at Colorado State. “We knew she had a presence. She was the inside strength we were missing.”
And there was something else.
Clark doesn’t care much for personal statistics. “For me, it’s about playing your best and winning,” Clark said on more than one occasion this season. That fit in perfectly with Terry-Hutson’s “We Over Me” approach that became the Aztecs’ mantra this season.
Oh, the Aztecs learned one more thing about the senior late Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
Clark can dance. So can her Aztecs teammates.
Behind Clark, guards Veronica Sheffey and Naomi Panganiban and forward Kim Villalobos, the Aztecs defeated Wyoming 72-68 in triple overtime to win the Mountain West Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament – accomplishing both triumphs for the first time since 2012.
Plus, Clark made history.
Making only her 14th start of the season because the Aztecs needed her “presence” inside against Wyoming’s 6-foot-4 Allyson Fertig — the Mountain West’s Player of the Year and scoring champion — Clark responded with the game of her career.
Clark finished the game with 12 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots — becoming the first Division I player this century to have that combination in a tournament game. And she helped limit Fertig to 17 points and 18 rebounds in 54 minutes.
When Clark’s game statistics and record were recited during the postgame media session, Villalobos said: “Wow.”
“Defensively, we just did a great job of getting stops when we needed them,” said Terry-Hutson. “I’m really proud of our defense and Cali anchoring us in the low post. We had to go with the bigger line-up tonight because Wyoming is so big.
“Jazlen Green came in and helped guard a little bit; Naomi, Kim, (Nat) Martinez. I just thought we did a really good job defending in the post.
“We had a great game plan. We spent most of the day trying to figure out what we were going to do, and we knew that we couldn’t guard Fertig by ourselves. We talked a lot about post defense starting from the top of the key, making it hard to it in to her. You can’t stop a player as good as she is, but we just tried to slow her down.”
Said Clark: “To be honest, when I play basketball, I try not to look at the statistics. I’m for what the team needs and tonight the team needed me to play some defense and not let Allyson do what she normally does.
“I did what I needed to do. I think that was big for us.”
Big? Huge! During Clark’s 49 minutes on the floor matched against Fertig, the Aztecs were 11 points better than Wyoming
And Clark was far from being the lone contributor.
• Sheffey converted four straight free throws in the final 42 seconds of the third overtime to seal the victory. She led the Aztecs with 24 points and played all but four of the 55 minutes.
• Panganiban, a freshman out of La Jolla Country Day, had 17 points in 42 minutes and hit a clutch, mid-game 3-pointer that ended an Aztecs drought of two points over 7¼ minutes.
• Villalobos had 11 points and nine rebounds in 39 minutes and scored the Aztecs’ first points in two of the three overtime sessions.
There were 16 lead changes and 12 ties, although the Aztecs had the lead for almost twice as long as Wyoming and never trailed in the overtime periods.
The Aztecs forced the Cowgirls into 25 turnovers while committing only 14. The Aztecs had a 20-5 edge in points off turnovers and also had a 15-8 edge in steals.
San Diego State held early leads of four and five points in the first two overtimes only to have Wyoming rally to tie at 54 and 64. The Aztecs out-scored Wyoming 8-4 in the third, extra, five-minute period.
The Aztecs again took a four-point lead in the third overtime on layup baskets by Villalobos and Clark. Then Sheffey sealed the victory with her four free throws.
“I’m still shaking a little bit from three overtimes,” Terry-Hutson said. “In the first two games (double-digit wins over New Mexico and top-seeded UNLV), I thought we made minimal mistakes that gave us a good chance to win.
“Tonight was a little different. We were a little fatigued. We were making some mistakes, but I thought the will to win, the competitive spirit kind of kept putting us in a situation to win. It wasn’t the best offensive game for us. I thought it was a little shaky. Trying to get something going, there wasn’t a lot of flow.
“I also thought we weren’t going to be denied. We had a taste of this last year (when the Aztecs lost in the championship game). We were really hungry.”
Added Sheffey: “I just knew we were going to win the game. That was the mindset the whole time. Like everyone was locked in.”
And Panganiban: “I don’t think anyone had any doubt that we were going to win. We wanted it so bad.”
“We’re speeding down the highway right now,” said Terry-Hutson.
