San José, Calif. – Forward Tyra Whitehead recorded 22 points and 20 rebounds as San José State saw its conference and home winning streak snapped in an overtime loss against first-place Fresno State on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (11-4, 4-0 Mountain West) ended up pulling away in the final minute of the extra period to earn the 85-76 victory. The Spartans ended the day with a 19-8 advantage in bench points while shooting 38 percent from the field.
"We just need to make more shots," said head coach Jamie Craighead after the game. "That's what this one came down to. We came out and looked really good in the first quarter but that's not all we can rely on."
A trio of Spartans finished the afternoon scoring in double figures on the heels of Whitehead's 22-point outing. Sophomore Ayzhiana Basallo followed closely behind with 17, while forward Cydni Lewis added 11 points and two assists. Whitehead shot 9-of-15 from the field while also making five shots at the free throw line.
Parlaying some momentum from Wednesday's historic victory in The Pit at New Mexico, SJSU came out of the gates firing on all cylinders in this one.
A 20-5 run, sparked by a Lewis layup and capped on a Raziya Potter jumper, turned an early 6-4 deficit into a 24-11 lead for the home team after the first quarter. The hot shooting then continued into the second quarter as San José State took a 36-26 advantage into the locker rooms at halftime.
The shooting, it's contagious.
— San José State Women's Basketball (@SanJoseStateWBB) January 4, 2020
Spartans by 11 with six minutes left in the half! @meg44anderson ?? pic.twitter.com/zd1qE8iNTe
Fresno State would eventually claw its way back into the contest, scoring 22 points in the third and another 24 in the fourth. The Bulldogs grabbed the lead back with four and a half minutes left in regulation, using a Haley Cavinder layup to make the score 64-63.
Both teams would exchange punch after punch from that point on with neither able to put the opponent away. It was a Basallo three-pointer with 52 seconds remaining in the fourth that assured the Spartans no worse than overtime, a clutch triple that gave her team a 72-70 lead.
Whitehead became the second player in program history to join the 20/20 Club at the 4:07 mark of overtime, securing her 20th rebound of the afternoon on a missed layup by Maddi Uti. She is the first Spartan to accomplish the feat since Lora Alexander poured in 27 points and grabbed 20 rebounds against UC Santa Barbara on February 23, 1989.
A historic rebound! @tmarie1533 just became the second player in program history to join the 20 point/20 rebound club. pic.twitter.com/zTq8rdZIZU
— San José State Women's Basketball (@SanJoseStateWBB) January 5, 2020
The Bulldogs would eventually emerge on top in this one, however, scoring the game's final four points to salt away their 85-76 victory.
SJSU will look to get back to its winning ways on Wednesday, taking to Reno for another big conference game against the Wolf Pack. Tip-off for that one is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Lawlor Events Center.