The Aztecs came up with 13 steals, three during the deciding 40 seconds, in holding off the Wahine, 58-53, for their 32nd straight WAC victory at Peterson Gym.
"This was for the (Pacific Division) championship," said Hawaii coach Vince Goo, who failed to notch his 198th career win for the second consecutive game. "It was a tough loss. We did everything we wanted to do on offense but didn't finish on the defensive end, especially on the boards.
"At the end, we didn't take care of the ball on our end. Down by 11, we cut it to four with a chance to cut it to two. Then we turned it over twice and that's it."
That was it for Hawaii's shot at first place in the division. At 11-3, the Wahine are tied with Colorado State, two games behind the Aztecs.
Now the battle is for No. 2, and the second bye into next month's tournament in Las Vegas. Should Hawaii and CSU remain tied through next Friday's season-enders, the Rams get to rest on March 3 while the Wahine play in the tournament opener at 10:30 a.m.
Hawaii finishes its home regular season tomorrow against New Mexico. The Wahine were scheduled to return home today about an hour before the Lobos arrived and were to head straight from the airport to practice.
"We'll try to finish it up strong and take care of our business," said Goo, whose team finishes the regular season at New Mexico next Friday. "Colorado State still has to play (Mountain Division leader) Utah so it's not over for us. We're not done battling yet."
Goo was not happy with the Wahine's rebounding effort in the first half last night. Hawaii was out-rebounded on the offensive boards, 9-1, in the first 20 minutes, 16-2 for the game.
Fourteen of the Aztecs' points came on second-chance putbacks.
"In the first half, we did not show courage or heart on the boards," Goo said. "We got unselfish with each other and decided to let someone else go after the ball. It ended up being San Diego State. They out-hustled us.
"I was disappointed about the first half but happy with the efforts in the second. Our ladies kept fighting back. But it's a 40-minute game, not 20."
The Wahine never led in the game, tying the contest five times in the first half. They trailed by as many as 11 in the second half, the last at 54-43 with 3:12 remaining.
Hawaii closed it to 54-50 with a 7-0 run, sparked by BJ Itoman's 3-pointer with 1:19 to go. The Wahine had two chances to cut it to a two-point deficit but Sandy Wright and Judy Nowlin-Tres each came up with a steal to prevent Hawaii from getting any closer.
Nani Cockett led all scorers with 23 points while Kendis Leeburg finished with 10. Nowlin-Tres had 16 points for the Aztecs before fouling out with 8.7 seconds to go; Shaneya Harris added 12.
"We wanted to play our power game and were pretty successful," Goo said. "Statistically, we beat them in a number of categories. They beat us badly on the boards and in the stat that counted: the final score.
"They are a very good team and we know we could play with them. Hopefully, we'll se them March 8 (in the WAC tournament final)."
San Diego State 58, Hawaii 53
Wahine (18-6 overall, 11-3 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Ashby 31 1 2 0 0 6 3 2 Howard 38 3 7 1 2 4 4 8 Leeburg 32 4 6 2 2 6 1 10 Cockett 40 6 13 6 7 6 1 23 Itoman 38 3 6 0 0 2 4 7 Fujimoto 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Liu 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Macintyre 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wautlet 14 1 3 1 4 2 0 3 Team 3 Totals 200 20 37 10 15 30 14 53
Aztecs (19-6 overall, 14-1 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp DiCamilli 36 3 9 0 0 3 2 6 Nowlin-Tres 36 8 17 0 0 9 5 16 Bale 15 1 5 0 0 5 0 2 Wright 30 1 5 2 4 5 3 5 Harris 23 4 12 4 4 2 3 12 Sledge 10 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 Zukauskaite 4 1 2 2 2 1 0 4 Rucker 17 2 6 0 0 2 3 4 Woods 29 4 8 1 1 7 2 9 Team 2 Totals 200 24 66 9 11 33 19 58Key: mp-minutes played. fgm-field goals made. fga-field goals attempted. ftm-free throws made. fta-free throws attempted. reb-rebounds. pf-personal fouls. pts-points scored.
Halftime score-San Diego State 31, Hawaii 23.
3-point goals-UH 3-6 (Itoman 1-1, Cockett 1-2, Howard 1-3), SDS 1-10 (Wright 1-3, DiCamilli 0-1, Nowlin-Tres 0-1, Sledge 0-1, Zukauskaite 0-1, Rucker 0-3).
Assists-UH 11 (Cockett 4, Itoman 4), SDSU 10 (Wright 5). Turnovers-UH 23 (Cockett 9), SDSU 11 (Harris 4). Steals-UH 3 (Cockett 2), SDSU 13 (Nowlin-Tres 4, Wright 4, Harris 3). Blocked shots-UH 3 (Leeburg 2), SDSU 0. Technicals-None.
A-1,715. Officials: Yarbrough, Petter, Perlman.