Stacie Terry-Hutson was succinct in her assessment of San Diego State’s women’s basketball effort Saturday afternoon at Viejas Arena.

“We laid an egg,” said the Aztecs’ head coach following a second straight Mountain West conference loss.

“After a good start, we had a tough week. What hurt us at Colorado State, hurt us here.”

Outscoring the Aztecs in the paint and pestering the hosts into 18 turnovers, New Mexico defeated San Diego State 68-59. The hosts really struggled in three areas where they excelled earlier in the season — shooting, turnovers and points in the paint.

“We have to take better care of the ball,” said Terry-Hutson. “And we have to get better on defense. Our 1-on-1 defense was atrocious today.”

And the defense wasn’t alone.

The Aztecs shot 40% from the floor and 7 for 21 from 3-point range, but just 8 for 15 from the foul line. And it just wasn’t the percentage on the 3-point tries. It was the tries themselves.

New Mexico’s defense rushed and harried the Aztecs, limiting San Diego State’s number of open looks at the basket.

“And we had 18 possessions where we didn’t even get a shot off,” said Terry-Hutson. “We weren’t poised. And we didn’t do a good job of moving the ball around.”

So, after a convincing 74-59 win over Boise State in their Mountain West opener at Viejas last Sunday, the Aztecs have suffered back-to-back conference losses while falling to 12-4 overall.

The Aztecs started fast, jumping to a quick 4-0 lead. But the Lobos started attacking on both ends of the floor, scoring eight straight points en route to a 14-9 edge at the end of the first quarter. New Mexico outscored San Diego State 23-14 in the first eight minutes of the second half to take a 13-point lead.

Veronica Sheffey rallied the Aztecs with five points in the final minute of the third period. A 3 from Jazien Green and a basket by Adryana Quezada pulled the Aztecs to within five at 55-50 less than a minute into the second half.

But that was as close as the Aztecs would get.

“They were very aggressive,” Sheffey said of the 10-6 Lobos, who are now 3-0 in Mountain West play. “But we can take advantage of teams being aggressive. It comes down to moving the ball and making shots. We let them dictate play.”

Sheffey led the Aztecs with 14 points. Forward Kim Villalobos was the only other Aztec in double figures with 10.

Destinee Hooks came off the bench to lead New Mexico with 18.

In addition to having a 42-24 edge in the paint, New Mexico outscored the hosts 16-9 off turnovers and had 27 points from the bench to 22 for San Diego State. San Diego State entered the game ranked sixth in the nation in bench points with reserves producing an average of 36.3 points a game — or 50.7% of San Diego State’s offensive production.

“It’s been a tough week,” Terry-Hutson repeated. “Three games in seven days, home-road-home. We’re better than this. We have to be.”

Originally Published: January 4, 2025 at 4:58 PM PST