After a dream-like season, San Jose State women’s basketball team simply ran out of steam.
The Spartans (19-12, 12-7 MWC) were eliminated from the Mountain West Tournament Semifinals Tuesday night at the hands of rival Fresno State Bulldogs (25-6, 16-2 MWC) in a 94-68 blowout in Las Vegas.
The Spartans went
toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs for the first four minutes of the game, taking a 9-8 lead behind 6 quick points from junior forward
Tyra Whitehead.
Using its overpowering size and knockdown shooting, Fresno State went on a 20-2 run to finish the quarter, with two 10-0 spurts separated by a pair of free throws from sophomore guard
Ayzhiana Basallo. The Spartans made just 1 of their last 9 shots of the quarter.
The Bulldogs bullied the Spartans offensively in the opening quarter. They shot 58% from the floor, including converting on 5-of-9
3-point attempts.
Maddi Utti, junior forward and Mountain West Player of the Year, dominated up-front for the Bulldogs with
11 points, 4 rebounds and
2 assists in the first quarter.
After falling behind by 17, the Spartans stepped it up defensively in the second. Head coach Jamie Craighead switched from man-to-man to zone-defense to thwart the Bulldogs’ perimeter shooting, and it was effective.
Fresno State was held to just 28% shooting in the second quarter. Unfortunately, SJSU’s offense didn’t hold up its part of the bargain.
The Spartans were 1-9 from three and 7-19 total. The poor shooting kept the Spartans from taking advantage of improved defense and the Bulldogs went to the half with a
45-28 lead.
Foul trouble cemented a large lead for the Bulldogs for the remainder of the game. Within the first four minutes of the third quarter, three key Spartans – Whitehead, sophomore guard Raziya Potter and junior guard Danae Marquez had three fouls each, two-short of fouling out.
This meant that three of SJSU’s best defenders had to play more conservatively. Fresno State took advantage, jamming the ball into the paint and drawing more fouls. The Bulldogs were 12-16 from the free-throw line in just the third quarter.
The Spartans played their best defensive quarter in the fourth but the Bulldogs simply kept up. Both squads shot at least 50% from the floor in the last 10 minutes.
The Fresno State lead got as big as 36 halfway through the quarter, but a string of four-consecutive threes from SJSU shrunk the deficit.
Foul trouble remained a huge factor, as five Spartans finished the game with four fouls. The Bulldogs were 27-34 from the line.
In the end, the Spartans were simply outplayed by the regular season MWC champions.
With a lack of rim-protecting options outside of Whitehead, the Spartans were out-rebounded 50-38. The Fresno State game plan was clear: don’t let Basallo score and force her to pass the ball.
She finished with 12 points on 3-9 shooting, 1 assist and 5 turnovers – a tough outing for the sophomore.
The Bulldogs put together a balanced offensive attack. Utti and junior guard
Aly Gamez led the game with
22 points each, while Utti tacked on 15 rebounds.
Fresno will face Boise State Wednesday in the conference championship game, with a berth to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
The game ends an impressive turnaround season by SJSU. It had the largest regular season win-total improvement of any Division I team, with a 12-win increase from a year ago.
The team will return four starters next season, only losing guard Fieme’a Hafoka and bench forward Alexis Harris to graduation.
The Spartans were picked to finish last in the official Mountain West preseason poll this season. After the way this team performed this season it’s safe to say they’ll be on everybody’s radar
next year.
