San Diego State players Kaelyn Hamilton (12) and Nala Williams (middle) celebrate during a break in play against the Wyoming Cowgirls on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 at Viejas Arena. Image courtesy of SDSU AthleticsEric EvelhochSun, March 1, 2026 at 12:42 AM UTC·4 min readSAN DIEGO – This season the San Diego State women’s basketball team has had a long checklist of items they wanted to achieve.
The Aztecs ticked off a few more on Saturday afternoon, as they sent seniors Nala Williams and Sofia Kelemeni out with a win and finished conference play unbeaten at Viejas Arena in a 70-51win over the Wyoming Cowgirls.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementGuaranteed the No.1 seed in the Mountain West Championships by virtue of their win at Boise State on Wednesday night to clinch the regular season championship outright, SDSU (24-4, 18-1 Mountain West) used a pair of dominant stretches to go unbeaten in conference play on Steve Fisher Court.
Kaelyn Hamilton scored 11 of her career-high 18 points in a 16-0 run over a stretch of 4:24 that straddled the first and second quarters, as the Scarlet and Black built to a 21-point lead at the break thanks to the sophomore guard’s full-court sprint layup to end the half.
Up by 23 with just over two and a half minutes remaining in the third, Wyoming went on a 14-0 run powered by 10 of Jane Rumpf’s game-high 27 points to cut the deficit to eight points with six ticks over two minutes played in the fourth quarter.
So, Naomi Panganiban scored 7 of her SDSU-high 20 points as part of a 13-0 run where the Aztecs held the Cowgirls (9-19, 6-13) without a bucket for seven-plus minutes to re-establish order and close the game out strong.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter chants in the final minutes, Ellie Chen came into the game with just under a minute to play and made the final home bucket of the season with 6.8 seconds remaining to draw a final roar of delight from the Scarlet and Black crowd.
San Diego State head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson stands with Sofia Kelemeni (6) and Nala Williams (14) during a pregame ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 at Viejas Arena. Image courtesy of SDSU AthleticsDerrick Tuskan - SDSU Athletics
San Diego State head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson stands with Sofia Kelemeni (6) and Nala Williams (14) during a pregame ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 at Viejas Arena. Image courtesy of SDSU Athletics
Prior to the game the Aztecs honored their two seniors, both who joined the program as transfers prior to the season. Kelemeni was honored first, followed by Williams.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementKelemeni, who has been a part of the ‘game changers’ off the bench all season, was surprised before accepting her framed jersey and flowers by a pair of special messages on the video board.
First, her two sisters and her god sister let her know how proud they were of her speaking in Greek. Then her parents, her mother clad in SDSU Scarlet and Black and her father in a San José State top, shared their love and pride for Sofia, who will be graduating with a degree in molecular biology.
Then, Williams was joined by members of her family to celebrate the soon-to-be communications graduate’s season on The Mesa where she quickly became a critical part of the team and a fan favorite.
Coming off earning her second Mountain West Player of the Week honor of the season, Williams finished the game with 7 points and a game-high six assists, the 20th time she’s led the Aztecs in dimes this season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe regular season finale is a final trip to altitude in U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. SDSU will face an Air Force team that they knocked off 62-51 on Dec. 31, 2025, and has dropped three of their last four games. Coming into the day the Falcons were ninth in the Mountain West standings.
Tip off is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 at Clune Arena, and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network, with an audio-only stream available on GoAztecs.com.
This story will be updated.
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