The WSU women’s basketball team won their game Friday night at home by 15 points against San Diego State University. The final score of the game was 65-50.

“It was a gut check, no doubt, coming off a disappointing outcome two nights ago and we found out a little bit about our Cougs,” Head Coach June Daugherty said. “We played with great energy tonight. Our defense was turning them over and it was fun to see us get into our running game … so it’s a great night for us.”

Starting with a steal and a layup by redshirt junior center Carly Noyes, the Cougars began the first seven minutes of the first half with a 14-2 run.

"I would say defense is what got us the head start,” redshirt sophomore guard IretiAmojo said. “And that really got us going offensively.”

San Diego State attempted a comeback with a layup at 13:43. However, the WSU defense only allowed the Aztecs to score a total of four points between 13:43 and 8:50 in the first half. Meanwhile, the Cougars scored seven points during the same time frame.

The Aztecs had a 4-1 run against the Cougars that lasted two minutes. WSU ended this comeback with another layup by Noyes bringing the score to 25-10 WSU with 5:45 remaining. It was an 8-0 run for the Cougars from 5:45 to 0:59.

With 0:59 remaining in the first half, San Diego State tried once again to close the scoreboard gap. Starting with a free throw shot, the Aztecs began a 4-2 run that had the scoreboard showing 35-16 WSU going into the half.

“We were pretty aware of what was going on with their game plan and we were able to take them out of it,” Daugherty said.

San Diego State opened the second half with a 9-2 run against WSU. The Cougars came right back with an 11-0 run starting with a free throw by redshirt freshman guard Tia Presley. Due to a successful three-point shot by redshirt sophomore guard and forward Brandi Thomas at 10:22, the scoreboard depicted the largest gap of the night as 51-28 WSU.

The Aztecs managed to close the scoreboard gap by coming back with a 14-4 run and trailing the Cougars by 11. With 5:09 left, the score was 55-44 WSU.

Following the run by San Diego State, WSU began to pull away from the Aztecs again with a jump shot by redshirt sophomore guard and forward Sage Romberg starting an 8-0 run that lasted until the end of the game.

San Diego attempted to stop the start of a Cougar run with a three-point shot, but WSU answered with a three-point shot by Amojo with 1:41 remaining in the game, which sealed the victory for WSU. Amojo scored a game-high of 16 points during the game with 12 of her points being from her three-point shots.

“It’s great to see our kids that work so hard every day get a chance to play in front of their home fans,” Daugherty said. “We know (San Diego State is) a good team. They knocked off De Paul, they beat Washington, they gave UCLA a good run but tonight was our night.”

The WSU women’s basketball team will be tipping off next against University of California, Riverside, at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in Beasley Coliseum.