• The San Diego State women’s basketball will face LSU in the first round of the NCAA tournament, marking the Aztec’s first tournament appearance in 13 years.
• SDSU coach Stacie Terry-Hutson was an assistant coach for LSU during the two teams’ only other matchup in 2012.
• Terry-Hutson left LSU a year later to become SDSU’s head coach, a position she has held for 12 years.

BATON ROUGE, La — A series of coincidences surrounds San Diego State’s first appearance in the women’s NCAA Tournament in 13 years. 

For starters, the Aztecs have faced Saturday night’s opponent, LSU, only once before: In 2012 when the Tigers defeated SDSU 64-56 in the first round of March Madness. 

Even stranger, SDSU coach Stacie Terry-Hutson was on the opposing bench during that game, as an assistant coach for LSU.

A year later, Terry-Hutson left LSU to start her first collegiate head coaching job at SDSU. She has remained in the position for the last 12 years. 

“I’m a little torn because I have a lot of love for LSU,” said Terry-Hutson when talking about what it means to be back. “I’ve been really proud to watch what Coach (Kim) Mulkey has done with this program.”

Watch LSU vs. San Diego State on Fubo

Terry-Hutson described the coincidence as being serendipitous. Nevertheless, she stressed that this moment wasn’t about her. 

“It’s a great story, but it’s really about these young women,” she said. 

SDSU punched its ticket to March Madness in dramatic fashion, defeating Wyoming in triple overtime in the Mountain West title game. But SDSU lacks experience on this stage, with only one person on its roster having ever played in the tournament.

The Aztecs expect a loud and raucous atmosphere Saturday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

“We know it’s deafening,” Terry-Hutson said. “When they go on a run, it’s really hard to hear.”

To prepare for this environment, SDSU played loud music and artificial crowd noise in the gym during practice. The team has even gone as far as learning hand signals for in-game communication, something they haven’t done all season. 

“If we can stay connected in that environment, no matter who’s on the floor, we’ll have a good chance,” Terry-Huston said.

Tatum Esparza is a student in the University of Georgia’s Sports Media Certificate program.

William Apodaca Arias

OBITUARY

William Arias was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, July 12, 1928 to Francisca (Apodaca) Arias and Carpio Soto. His adopted father was Cipriano Arias. William was a WWII Vet, serving in the US Army Air Corps.

He was predeceased by his wife, Phemina “Patsy” (Montoya) Arias, his son William C. Arias (killed in Vietnam). Surviving are his sons, Don P. Arias (Carmen), and Frank A. Arias (Florie); seven grandchildren, 14 great- and seven great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral Services will be held March 25, 2025 at 1:30pm, at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, 1700 Cabrillo Memorial Dr, San Diego, CA.

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (KGTV) – Progress is underway on the Imperial Beach Pier and surrounding areas as efforts continue to draw visitors despite ongoing sewage issues that have closed nearby beaches.

“IB Pier is one of the Port of San Diego’s piers we own it we maintain it and we basically want to make it the nicest pier in San Diego. We’ve been doing a lot of work on it the last couple of years,” Dan Malcolm, the Port Commissioner of San Diego, said. “We spent $2.5 million refreshing it, doing an artistic shade structure, painting it. We put placards out, railing, refreshing the pier. For residents and visitors, this is a central area where they come.”

The Port Commissioner said looking up the coast past San Diego and down to Mexico is what makes this pier special. The pier was built in 1963, and at the time, it was 1,200 feet. Fishing has been a common attraction here throughout the years.

“As a piece of ocean infrastructure, there are always things to be done. We’ll continue to monitor, we’ll redo planking and look at other projects to make the pier attractive to people,” Malcolm said.

Changes coming soon to area around Imperial Beach Pier

By 2026, the port hopes to bring a splash pad to the area at the base of the pier. That project is estimated to cost another $1.5 million.