On a recent road trip to Laramie, for a game against Mountain West rival Wyoming, with snow falling outside of the Arena-Auditorium and bone-chilling 12-degree air wafting about, San Diego State University women’s head basketball coach Stacie Terry-Hutson – a native of San Diego County – asked freshman point guard Naomi Panganiban – also a native of San Diego County – a question:

“Why would you want to live here?”

For Panganiban, who often takes trips to the beach as an outlet to keep from getting overwhelmed by the growing pains of college basketball, leaving home was never a serious consideration.

“It takes a special kid to stay home,” Terry-Hutson said. “There is some hometown love this year. Our attendance is up and it goes hand in hand with having some local kids on the team [Panganiban and freshman forward Bailey Barnhard] that people care about and want to continue to watch.”

“I wanted to play in front of my grandparents especially,” Panganiban added. “My family and everyone who supported me is from San Diego.”

Panganiban, a 1,000-point scorer at La Jolla Country Day and the Coastal League Player of the Year as well as an All-CIF First Team San Diego Section pick as a senior, helped lead the Torreys to three league championships, two San Diego open championships, and two runners up finishes at the state level.

“La Jolla Country Day played a huge part in my transition [to college basketball],” Panganiban said. “I give a lot of credit to coach Terri [Bamford] and the Country Day program. I have more experience having that competition. we had a national schedule. Everything that we do there is getting ready for the collegiate level. A lot of alumni come back just to be on the scout squad. That helps a lot getting used to the physicality and the mental side.”

Among those alumni are WNBA luminary Kelsey Plum and University of South Carolina star Te-Hina Paopao.

“Kelsey and Te-Hina always come back for scrimmage squad,” Panganiban said. “It was fun getting to play against them. They always said to cherish Terri because when we get to college it’s going to be about business. Enjoy the journey and get used to changing your mindset and the physicality of college basketball.”

For the 13-6 Aztecs, Panganiban has been an immediate contributor. Twice she has been named the Mountain West Freshman of the Week and over a recent eight-game stretch, averaged more than 15 points per contest.

“It’s fun to play with her,” Aztec senior forward Kim Villalobos said. “She makes it easy. I could tell right away that she has confidence. She is a great passer and her [basketball IQ reflects] experience.”

“She does have a natural feel for the game that most freshmen don’t have,” Terry-Hutson added.

The on-court polish is more senior than freshman, but off the court, Panganiban is still very much a teenager.

“She has a silliness that I love, that reminds me she is a freshman,” Terry-Hutson said. “If you go on her social media there are pictures of her with other freshmen rolling around in the snow. She keeps us all loose and laughing and enjoying the game.”

Grace Ricafranca, who has coached Panganiban over multiple summers with the Philippines national team, echoed those sentiments.

“What I think her superpower is, is having the ability to bring the people around her together with her fun, energetic personality,” Ricafranca said. “She is an amazing player on the court, but an even better human.”

Panganiban called the academic side of college basketball the most challenging adjustment.

“We watch film every day, learning our plays and the other teams’ plays,” she said. “The mental side of things and the turnaround for games is hard.”

Rotating between coming off the bench and starting, Panganiban has averaged 10 points and two assists through her first 19 collegiate games.

“I am just starting to find my way a little bit and solidify my role,” Panganiban said. “I’ve been trying to relax a little bit more on the court. I was a facilitator in the beginning. Now I am trying to score a little bit more.”

Heading into conference play, Panganiban hopes the Aztec’s hot start translates into postseason success.

“The end goal is to win a Mountain West championship,” she said. “The team has been working hard. The start of the season has shown how much potential we have. Building chemistry has been easy. Since the summer, we have all understood how to play with each other. We are going to continue to have that mindset.”