The San Diego State women’s basketball team received a No. 14 seed in Baton Rouge on Sunday.

The Aztecs will face one of the college women’s basketball giants, the LSU Tigers. LSU is led by head coach Kim Mulkey. Mulkey and the Tigers received a three-seed.

LSU won the 2023 National Championship and will be looking to get back to this year’s title game. The Tigers went 28-5 on the season and 12-4 in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). LSU lost to second-seeded Texas, 56-49, in the SEC Tournament Semifinal.

The Aztecs are coming off of a thrilling triple-overtime win over the Wyoming Cowgirls in the Mountain West Championship game.

Veronica Sheffey has led the Aztecs, she scored a career-high 24 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists in the Mountain West Championship game. Her stat line garnered her the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award. The freshman, Naomi Panganiban, chipped in with 17 points and joined Sheffey on the all-tournament team.

This marks the fourth year in a row that LSU is a No. 3 seed.

The Tigers won the National Championship as a No. 3 seed in 2023. The Tigers have been successful recently, and the Aztecs should expect a great game from them. LSU did not lose a game until January this year. They have proven that they can score at will. Flau’Jae Johnson leads the team in points per game with 18.9 a night. She is followed by senior forward Aneesha Morrow, who is averaging 18.5 points per game. Mikaylah Williams rounds out LSU’s scoring trio, averaging 17.2 points per game.  As a team, the Tigers are averaging 84.5 points per game.

The Aztecs are led on the offensive end by Veronica Sheffey and Naomi Panganiban. Sheffey is averaging 11.4 points and 3.0 assists per game. Standout freshman Naomi Panganiban is averaging 10.5 points and 1.7 assists per game. The Aztecs, as a team, average 69.4 points per game.

The game will be an uphill battle for the Aztecs, who have to travel to Baton Rouge for the game.

In women’s college basketball, the higher seed hosts the game at their home arena. LSU will certainly have a full house when the Aztecs come to town. ESPN currently only gives SDSU a 1.2% chance to win Saturday’s game. A positive for the Aztecs is that they are on a hot streak. The Aztecs have won their last eight games dating back to mid-February.

On the flip side, the Tigers have been 4-3 since mid-February and lost their last game to Texas in the SEC semifinals. The Aztecs have momentum and confidence on their side, and they will need to utilize that and their defense to propel them to a win in Baton Rouge.

Head coach of the Aztecs, Stacie Terry-Hutson, said in her press conference, “I’m excited to go back to Baton Rouge.” Terry-Hutson was an assistant coach at LSU from 2011-13 before taking the San Diego State job. Terry-Hutson feels that SDSU’s superpower is “our depth… sometimes a player might not be playing as well as she can, and we’ve always had someone step up in her absence.” The Aztecs will need that if they are looking to pull off an upset in Baton Rouge on Saturday. To make that happen, coach Terry-Hutson thinks the keys to winning are that “We’re gonna have to rebound and get back in transition… They are going to push and are very good on the offensive glass.” She’s not wrong. LSU player Aneesha Morrow leads the entire NCAA in rebounds per game with 13.6 a game.

The Aztecs need to use their hustle and rebounding to overcome an impressive LSU team. While the odds seem to be stacked against them, it is March.

In March, anything is possible.

Max Montoya

A Southern California kid from San Clemente, he attended Gonzaga University and obtained a degree in sports management with minors in digital marketing and public relations. Max has been a San Diego sports fan for life.