The San José State women’s basketball team strutted into Provident Credit Union Event Center on Wednesday night and lost 71-70 in the final seconds against their fiery rival Utah State.
The Spartans (6-19, 1-12 MW) looked to knock off a conference rival when Aggies (4-21, 1-12 MW) struggled to win games before the Mountain West Women’s Basketball Tournament, which is set to kick off on March 10.
Head coach April Phillips said she is very proud of the team.
“This one hurts,” Phillips said. “I would say that it’s definitely making us stronger as a program (and) as individuals. We’re just going to stick together. We’ve got some adversity ahead of us.”
The Spartans currently sit in tenth place in the Mountain West Conference and the Aggies are looking to find their rhythm coming off of a five-game losing streak.
Leading all scorers was SJSU’s sophomore guard Sabrina Ma who played an intense game, scoring 23 points including the shot to put the Spartans up by 70-68 in the clutch. Ma would miss the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final possession of the game.
“That was a hard fought game for our ladies,” Phillips said. “I think that the eight (players) that we had available tonight poured their hearts into that game. I was super proud of the way they continued to show up and fight … they just continued to stay locked in. Right now they’re choosing to stick together and we’re super proud of them.”
Ma provided a much needed spark, contributing to the tune of 12 points from 5-8 shooting while knocking down 3-pointers at a 50% clip. Despite the Spartans’ strong game both offensively and defensively, they found themselves down 50-48 going into the final quarter of play.
SJSU’s rebounding advantage paid dividends as they were able to out-rebound the Aggies 44-38 with a 17-11 offensive rebounding advantage, which kept the game within a one possession game throughout the latter half of the third quarter.
“We’ve always known that if we crash (rebounds) hard and we just go physical, that’s our thing,” Ma said. “We have big bodies, we have an athletic team. If we keep crashing like we’re doing, things will eventually work out.”
Junior guard Cheyenne Stubbs, Utah State’s leading scorer with 16.2 points per game, posed a challenge to the Spartans if they wanted to lock down the Aggies. Stubbs is shooting a respectable 35.8% on 3-pointers.
Stubbs’ energy led her team off in the second half as her presence as a driver created open shots for her teammates. Despite not scoring at the rate she usually produces at, her defensive instincts and leadership were present.
Going down to the final minutes of the contest, SJSU’s defensive pressure proved to be an obstacle for USU. With three minutes and 46 seconds left in the game, Spartans’ sophomore guard-forward Sofia Kelemeni went off, ripping off nine points quickly like a band-aid.
“We are all we got, so we need to trust our teammates and (be) passing the ball because we all need to score, we all need to get the ball in the basket,” Kelemeni said.
However, the loophole for the weaknesses in the Aggie’s offense is that they are creative, crafty and aggressive enough to put pressure on the defense by getting to the foul line.
The Aggies shot 449 free throws this season, and Stubbs aloneshot 122 free throws and made 90 of them. Stubbs is a volume shooter, in that she likes to keep shooting a high volume of shots whether or not she shows good shot selection or efficiency.
When the Aggies shoot better from the field than their opponent, they maintained a 4-4 record. When their opponents outshoot them, Utah State is 0-17.
The Spartans missed a plethora of layups during the first quarter, but stayed afloat thanks to Sabrina Ma’ sharpshooting, who drained two 3-pointers early.
“At any given point, someone is going to step up on our team,” Ma said. “At this point, we’re down to seven bodies. We all are meaning to step up and meaning to play our roles.”
Despite the mistakes of the Aggies defense, the Spartans found themselves down 18-15 after the first 10 minutes of play.
Utah State’s Stubbs came out showing the prowess of her leadership in the second quarter, creating turnovers and handling the ball against the pressure of the Spartans’ defense. Despite the blue-and-gold shooting 18% on 3-pointers, neither team was able to channel momentum early.
SJSU’s junior forward-center Amhyia Moreland picked up the slack, sparking a Spartan surge, and notched 14 points in the first half of play.
The Spartans showed grit and tenacity defensively, holding the Aggies to 21.1% shooting from the field and 25% on 3-pointers.
To complement that, SJSU gave Utah State a taste of its own medicine. SJSU moved the basketball, got aggressive and forced their way into the fouling bonus and earned a 31-29 lead at the half.
“Our ladies, they’re hungry, they’re working hard,” Phillips said. “They were itching to win a game, we talked about the game coming down to those intangible things. When you’re scraping and scratching for a win, you got to do the tough things.”
