Nat Martinez and Naomi Panganiban combined for 42 points Wednesday as San Diego State defeated Kansas State 64-53 in Manhattan, Kan.

Martinez scored 22 points and Panganiban had 20 as the pair, who were both members of the Mountain West Conference’s All-Freshman Team last season, went a combined 9-for-15 from 3-point range.

After trailing 18-11 after the first quarter, the Aztecs outscored the Wildcats 37-16 over the middle two quarters while shooting 45% from the floor to improve to 6-3. Kansas State, which scored only five baskets in the middle two quarters, fell to 6-6.

“I thought we played a pretty solid, half-court defensive game for all 40 minutes,” said Aztecs coach Stacie Terry-Hutson. “What hurt us early was turnovers and transition points. We focused on that at halftime and limited the turnovers and transition points.

“We made sure we were getting back on defense. And we knew we had to keep the score low. Our guards did a great job limiting the 3s. That was going to be key. And we did a great job on the boards.”

The shorter Aztecs finished with a 37-32 edge in rebounds, with Alyssa Jackson and Kennedy Lee each pulling down seven and Bailey Barnhard grabbing six. Panganiban scored 16 points in the middle two quarters while Martinez had eight points. Panganiban, Martinez, Jackson and Barnhard are all sophomores.

“We’re led by sophomores and how good we’re going to be is kind of based on how quickly they grow up,” said Terry-Hutson. “I thought they took a big step forward in this game. They communicated and defended at a high level.”

USD women lose

USD’s women were also in the Midwest for a Wednesday matinee, falling 74-46 to Wisconsin in Madison.

There was some good news for the Toreros (4-7). Kylie Ray scored 17 points in 26 minutes off the bench after missing more than five full games with a variety of lower leg injuries.

USD shot only 38.6% (17-for-44) from the floor and gave up 33 points off 22 turnovers.

PLNU in Elite Eight

Third-seeded Point Loma Nazarene University and sixth-seeded Bentley will match identical 27-4 records Thursday morning in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II National Women’s Volleyball Championships in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The Sea Lions defeated Fresno Pacific Saturday night in the finals of the NCAA West Regionals played at PLNU to advance. They’ve played Bentley already once this season, winning in four sets during a September tournament in Colorado.

Thursday’s winner will advance to Friday’s semifinals match against the winner of Thursday’s match between Concordia-St. Paul and Gannon.