Nov. 16, 2013
San Jose, Calif. - Junior guard Ta'Rea Cunnigan, who finished with 22 points on Friday night, became the 13th player in San José State women's basketball history to pass the 1,000-point plateau in a 105-78 loss to the UC Riverside Highlanders in The Event Center.
"It's tough to celebrate this right now," Cunnigan said. "It would feel better if we had the win to go along with this. It's a great accomplishment, certainly something I am very proud of and the biggest achievement I've had in my basketball career."
Cunnigan is the second fastest Spartans women's basketball player to reach the milestone. She accomplished it in 63 games, behind only Lora Alexander who did it in 56 games and finished her Spartans' career with 1,019 points. Cunnigan stands at 1,010 career points.
The Spartans missed their first four shots from the field, a pair of free throws and found themselves down 11-2 three minutes into the game. UC Riverside then knocked down three more buckets, two by Brittany Crain and another from Annelise Ito. Crain would finish with a game-high 23 points. Ito would score 22 and add 15 rebounds.
The Highlanders built their largest lead of the first 20 minutes, 43-20, with 4:51 to play before the half and took a 50-30 advantage into the locker room.
"A fast team can't play slow and that's what we did," head coach Jamie Craighead said. "From the beginning we let them do everything they wanted. They dictated the tempo. It was a slow game and we just never got it sped up."
UC Riverside shot 54.5 percent on the night, including 64.5 percent in the second half. They hit 20-of-31 shots after halftime, including 10 layups and won going away.
"They had us outsized and that's why we had to play faster," Craighead said. "We couldn't play a half court game. When we did press, they kicked it ahead and we weren't getting back. They did a good job and shot the ball well."
The Spartans shot just 36.8 percent and were beaten on the boards 51-to-31 including having UC Riverside grab 39 defensive rebounds to San José State's eight offensive boards.
"We missed some easy shots, shots we normally make," Cunnigan said. "I don't think we took any bad shots; we just didn't have a good night shooting. We didn't have a good night defensively or on the boards either. When we missed they were there to grab the ball and that was a big factor against us."
Riana Byrd and Classye James scored 15 points each in the loss and Jasmine Smith had 12.
The Spartans return to the court on Sunday, November 17, in The Event Center. They host the Purple Aces of Evansville with tipoff scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
UC Riverside vs San Jose State
11/15/13 7:00 p.m. at San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
At San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
UC RIVERSIDE 105, SAN JOSE STATE 74
UC RIVERSIDE (1-2)
Crain, Brittany 10-15 1-1 23; Hadley, Natasha 8-11 5-6 21; Ito, Annelise
8-14 4-5 20; Harewood, Kiara 4-10 4-6 12; DeCoud, Simone 2-5 2-2 7;
Williams, Jamila 3-8 0-0 7; Martin, Akilah 3-4 0-0 7; Wallace, Taylor 3-5
0-0 6; Nyingifa, Inara 1-1 0-0 2; Morrison, Tahvia 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 42-77
16-20 105.
SAN JOSE STATE (2-1)
Cunnigan, Ta'Rea 7-16 8-10 22; Byrd, Riana 6-8 3-3 15; James, Classye 5-9
4-9 15; Smith, Jasmine 4-10 4-5 12; West, Rachol 1-5 1-2 4; Hall, Britta 1-4
1-2 3; Woodberry, Rebecca 1-9 0-0 3; Tauala, Jayzyl 0-6 0-0 0; Baird, Paris
0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-68 21-31 74.
UC Riverside.................. 50 55 - 105
San Jose State................ 30 44 - 74
3-point goals--UC Riverside 5-11 (Crain, Brittany 2-4; Martin, Akilah 1-1;
Williams, Jamila 1-1; DeCoud, Simone 1-2; Morrison, Tahvia 0-2; Harewood,
Kiara 0-1), San Jose State 3-21 (West, Rachol 1-4; James, Classye 1-2;
Woodberry, Rebecca 1-7; Hall, Britta 0-1; Tauala, Jayzyl 0-3; CUNNIGAN,
Ta'Rea 0-4). Fouled out--UC Riverside-None, San Jose State-BYRD, Riana.
Rebounds--UC Riverside 51 (Ito, Annelise 15), San Jose State 31 (Byrd, Riana
7). Assists--UC Riverside 31 (DeCoud, Simone 5; Martin, Akilah 5; Wallace,
Taylor 5), San Jose State 13 (Hall, Britta 5). Total fouls--UC Riverside 22,
San Jose State 18. Technical fouls--UC Riverside-None, San Jose State-None.
A-412