WOMEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS TO UTEP , BOYER NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

12/30/2008

SAN DIEGO - The Sacramento State women's basketball team fell to the UTEP Miners in the third place game of the Surf-'N-Slam Tournament, 67-49, on Tuesday, Dec. 30 at Cox Arena on the campus of San Diego State.

With the loss, the Hornets fall to 2-11 on the season while the Miners improve to 7-6.

UTEP came of the gates hot from beyond the three-point arc in the first half, sinking 6-of-9 three-pointers on their way to a 42-28 halftime advantage. The Miners hit 16-of-30 shots from the field (53.3 percent) in the half to the Hornets 10-of-26 shooting (38.5 percent).

The Hornets cut the lead to 12 on two occasions in the second half, but saw the Miners go on a 15-2 run during the middle of the half, taking their largest lead of the game at 62-37 with 8:46 left. Sacramento State outscored UTEP 12-5 the rest of the way to account for the final margin of 67-49.

Sacramento State was led by senior Atty Boyer (Sacramento, Calif.) and freshman Nneka Payne (Auburn, Wash.) who scored nine points apiece, while junior Charday Hunt (Portland, Ore.) and sophomore Emily Christensen (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) added seven points apiece. Christensen, in her second game back from injury, was 3-of-5 from the field and 1-of-1 from beyond the three-point arc in 13 minutes of play.

The Miners were led by Sviatlana Trukshanina, who scored 19 points off the bench on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc. Ilda Chambe also added a game-high 11 rebounds for UTEP, who finished the tournament in third place. The meeting between the Miners and the Hornets was the matchup between the two schools.

Following the tournament, Boyer was named to the all-Surf-'N-Slam tournament team, along with Texas' Kat Nash and Ashley Lindsey, UTEP's Trukshanina, and San Diego State's Paris Johnson and Jene Morris, with Morris being named the tournament MVP. San Diego State defeated No. 4 Texas in the championship game, 60-55.

The Hornets open up Big Sky play this coming weekend as they head to the Pacific Northwest to take on Portland State and Eastern Washington. The Hornets take on the Vikings at 7:05 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 2, before traveling to Cheney, Wash. to take on the Eastern Washington Eagkes on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 2:05 p.m.