San Diego St. 69, TCU 67

3/14/2008 6:01 PM

By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) -Quenese Davis inbounded the ball off opponent Adrianne Ross's back and scored the go-ahead basket with 18 seconds left, lifting San Diego State past second-seeded TCU 69-67 in the Mountain West Conference tournament semifinals Friday.

The sixth-seeded Aztecs (18-12) will face No. 4 seed New Mexico, the defending champion, in the title game Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

San Diego State's stirring win marked yet another shocker at the women's tournament. The Aztecs also bounced third-seeded Wyoming and ninth-seeded Colorado State upset host UNLV and top-seeded Utah.

The Aztecs trailed almost the entire game before taking a 66-65 lead on Paris Johnson's free throw with 1:45 left. Micah Garoutte's line-drive bucket at 47 seconds put TCU (21-11) back on top 67-66.

Jene Morris's shot was blocked out of bounds with 18.6 seconds remaining in the game and two seconds left on the shot clock.

Davis brought the ball in and when Ross turned her back in the lane, Davis tossed the ball off her back, grabbed the ricochet and scored to put the Aztecs back ahead.

``The first thing you have to know is 'Q' coming into this game is 3-for-3 on that play,'' Aztecs coach Beth Burns said. ``I always tell her, 'You can do it if you can make it.' It's a blessing we didn't have a timeout because I don't know what I would have drawn up, but I know it wouldn't have been that.

``That is loving the game, playing pickup since you learned the game.''

The Aztecs then stole the inbounds after a timeout with 12 seconds left and Morris was fouled. She missed her first free throw but made her second shot for a 69-67 lead, and Ross missed a shot for the tie in the closing seconds.

Morris led San Diego State with 24 points, Johnson had 11 and Allison Duffy 10. Davis had five points. Five Horned Frogs reached double figures, led by Garoutte and Helena Sverrisdottir with 12.