Suman, Garnes Lead Aztecs to Upset of Trojans

Lisa Leslie, Lisa Leslie, Lisa Leslie. That’s all the San Diego State women’s basketball team heard leading up to Tuesday’s game against USC and Leslie, its All-American center.

Michelle Suman, Kieishsha Garnes. That’s all Leslie is likely to have bouncing around her consciousness since SDSU’s 71-64 upset of No. 20 USC.

The unranked Aztecs (3-1) never trailed en route to their first defeat of a ranked team.

“When you beat a ranked team like USC, it opens people’s eyes” Garnes said.

It seems the Aztecs’ were already open.

“I think everybody in the Aztec locker room knew this game was within our grasp,” Aztec Coach Beth Burns said. “We didn’t come out to compete tonight. We came out to win.”

All, that is, except for Suman, who was looking to soothe a lasting memory.

“I was a freshman in high school when I first went up against Lisa,” said Suman, who was recalling a semifinal game in an All-Star tournament three years ago. She played for Colorado, Leslie for California. “I handled her then, but they beat us, so this is vengeance.”

This time Suman, a 6-foot-3 freshman, didn’t keep Leslie, a 6-5 sophomore, from contributing to USC’s offense (Leslie finished with 22 points). But perhaps more importantly, Suman kept Leslie off the boards.

“That’s one of the things we did really well,” Suman said. “We got the defensive rebounds and we got into our transition. That was a big factor because we like to run. I think we tired them out.”

San Diego State outrebounded USC, 37-20.

Over on the other side, Leslie wasn’t doing such a terrific job keeping Garnes, a 6-3 sophomore center, away from the basket. Garnes came through with a game-high 27 points and nine rebounds, five on the offensive boards.

In the final minutes when USC was busy full-court pressing and shaving a 15-point deficit to six, it was another freshman, 5-6 guard Falisha Wright, who came through with the big offensive rebounds to sap the juice from USC’s comeback efforts. She finished with five rebounds, four on the offensive side.

Wright finished with 22 points and was three-for-four behind the three-point line.