The San José State women's basketball's first road test ended in a loss Tuesday night as the Spartans were defeated 62-49 to Montana State University.
The game was much closer than the final score appeared as the Spartans (2-2) were down by just three points with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Freshman guard Jyah LoVett led the Spartans with 16 points and four assists. Sophomore guard Sabrina Ma added 11 points and five rebounds.
The Spartans were without leading scorer Marisa Davis-Jones as she suffered a lower leg injury last game.
“That was a really good test for us on the road,” SJSU head coach April Phillips said in a postgame X video. “I’m proud of my team for competing. Obviously being down Marissa hurt us a little bit. I’m proud of our squad for competing. I think it’s a really good learning lesson.”
The Spartans had moments in the first half, but couldn’t string together stops to add onto their lead. The Bobcats (1-2) shot 50% from the field in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 24-23 lead.
Montana State continued its momentum in the second half.
With under 10 seconds left in the third quarter and the game tied, SJSU gave up five points in the final seconds of the quarter.
Montana State made a layup with 10 seconds left and forced a turnover on the inbounds pass which led to a shooting foul. The Bobcats made one free throw and missed the second, but got the offensive rebound and put back a layup at the buzzer to go into the fourth quarter with a 45-40 lead.
The start of the fourth quarter was competitive for the Spartans, but two costly 3-pointers in the final two minutes led to the Bobcats taking the lead down the stretch.
SJSU will continue its road trip at 2 p.m. Sunday when it’s scheduled to face Loyola Marymount University at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles. The Lions are 0-2 thus far, losing to University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Arizona.
San Jose State freshman guard Jyah LoVett shoots the ball in the Spartans’ first road loss of the season against Montana State.
