The San Diego State and UC San Diego women’s basketball teams both play crucial home games Saturday afternoon.
The Aztecs take on Fresno State at 1 p.m. at Viejas Arena needing a win to clinch at least a tie for the Mountain West regular-season championship.
The Tritons host UC Irvine at 4 p.m. at LionTree Arena with the 13-2 teams playing for the Big West Conference lead.
San Diego State (21-4) defeated UNLV 80-62 on Wednesday night at Viejas to improve to 15-1 in conference play and open a three-game lead on both the Rebels and Boise State, who are tied for second in the MW standings with 12-4 marks.
After this, SDSU — which has not won the Mountain West regular-season title since 2012-2013 — will have three conference games remaining. The Aztecs scored a 63-53 win at Fresno State on Dec. 17 in the MW opener for both teams.
UC San Diego defeated the Anteaters 68-66 in Irvine on Jan. 24. Both teams will have four conference games remaining after this meeting. UCSD is 18-7 overall. UC Irvine is 22-4 and winners of five straight. The Tritons had a bye Thursday.
Aztecs head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson scored her 200th win Wednesday as all five starters scored in double figures.
“It was a great day to be an Aztec,” said Terry-Hutson. “It was a great game. I’m proud of our team. These young ladies work so hard every day. They set a goal to win the regular-season championship and they’ve gone about it brick by brick, focusing on one game at a time. We’re trying to keep the main thing the main thing, and that’s winning the next game.”