WBB Preview: Shorthanded Aggies Host Unbeaten Aztecs

When Utah State and San Diego State take the court Saturday afternoon, it will be two very different programs in very different positions.

The Aggies have been fighting tooth and nail this season, but have had the wind taken out of their sails by injuries to key players. They've been battle-tested and bruised and have lost two in a row and three of four, but are still hovering around .500 and looking to fight the rest of the way.

While the Aggies are suffering through the fray of adversity, the Aztecs suffer from an embarrassment of riches. The Aztecs are on a seven-game winning streak, which includes a resounding 5-0 opening slate to conference play. Each of their five conference games has been decided by double digits, and their smallest margin of victory was a 10-point win over Fresno State to kick off their Mountain West campaign.

Their most recent contests turned into beatdowns as the Aztecs beat the Cowgirls 72-55 in Laramie and then made short work of Grand Canyon with a 37-point first quarter en route to an 87-69 victory.

Naomi Panganiban, the team’s leading scorer and one of the more prolific bucket-getters in the conference, didn’t lead the team in scoring on either occasion. The last time she did was with an 18-point performance in an 83-54 rout of Boise State.

In between that game and the pair of victories over Wyoming and GCU, the Aztecs also topped Air Force 62-52, led by a dozen points from Nala Williams.

During that time, Panganiban has been contributing healthy sums (she scored eight against Air Force, 13 against Wyoming, and 15 against GCU), but was still passed by various teammates, which speaks to the abundance of high-end talent on this San Diego State roster.

In their 14 games, six different players have led the team in scoring, with Kaelyn Hamilton, Nat Martinez, Kennedy Lee, Williams, Bailey Barnhard and Panganiban each taking a turn. All but Hamilton, who did so in the team’s debut with an 11-point game against UCLA, have done so at least twice. They have four players notching at least nine points per game. Utah State has three, and two of them are injured.

Both teams have a duo of double-digit scorers at the top, but with Gayles and Asensio out, both of Utah State’s players with double-digit averages are sidelined, leaving Sophie Sene and her 9.3 points per game as the leading scorer. Her 9.3 points would be fifth highest on San Diego State. This leaves Jamisyn Heaton as Utah State’s second leading scorer. Her 7.1 points per game would be good enough for sixth on the Aztecs.

San Diego State’s sixth leading scorer, Hamilton who notches 5.7, would be fourth on Utah State, right behind Karyn Sanford’s 6.4.

Panganiban is averaging 13.1 points per game with a season high of 20 in a win over Kansas State. She is a 42.5 percent shooter from the field, 35 percent from deep, and 92.9 percent from deep. She is adding 1.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists.

Nat Martinez is the team’s second leading scorer with an average of 11.4 points per game. Her season high came in the same contest as Panganiban’s but she led the team with 22 points against K-State. She is adding 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and a steal. She is shooting 39.7 percent from the field, 34.2 percent from deep, and 88.9 percent from the stripe.

Williams is up next on the scoring leaderboards for the Aztecs. She is also leading the team in assists and is averaging third most in the conference. Williams averages 9.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Her season high in points and rebounds is a 25-point, 10-rebound double-double against CSUB. She’s coming off a season-high-tying performance of six rebounds against GCU, which matches her game against CSUN. Her season high in boards is also six, and she’s done that twice.

Barnard is the Aztec leader in boards and is averaging 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and just under one assist per game. In conference play, those numbers are a bit better, and she’s averaging 11 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists. Lee, the transfer from Nevada, is averaging 9.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and a steal. She dropped a season high of 24 points against CSUN and is coming off an 18-point, nine-rebound game against GCU.

Hamilton rounds out that upper echelon of the team’s high-end performers and averages 5.7 points and 2.5 rebounds. She’s scored double digits three times this year with a season high of 12 against Santa Clara. She’s averaging eight points, four rebounds, an assist, and 1.7 steals in her last three games.

Even behind that top tier, the Aztecs have plenty of weapons to complement high-flying performances with reliable players like Alyssa Jackson, who started four times last year and has played all 14 games without a start this year, averaging 16.8 minutes per game. She is adding 3.9 points and 3.5 rebounds.

The high-end talent and depth of San Diego State have led the Aztecs to an 11-3 record, and they are one of two teams remaining in the conference without a conference loss. Utah State will look to change that in the Spectrum on Saturday, but it has an uphill climb to get there without its stars.