Dec. 2, 2013
San Jose, Calif. - The San José State women's basketball team has a difficult week ahead starting at No. 9 Baylor on Tuesday night and then at Sacramento State on Saturday to wrap up three straight road contests over the past two weeks.
GAMES 8 and 9
SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY (4-3)
at #9 Baylor (6-0)
Tuesday, December 3, 7:00 p.m.
The Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas
at Sacramento State (4-1)
Saturday, December 7, 2:00 p.m.
Hornet Gym, Sacramento, Calif.
LIVE STATS
Fans can view live stats of all San José State women's basketball games by accessing the "Gametracker" feature at www.sjsuspartans.com. Click on the link on the women's basketball schedule page to follow the action.
VIDEO STREAMING
Spartan Digital is your all-access passport to Spartan Athletics. For live and recorded video/audio of San José State women's basketball home, Mountain West (road and home) and select road contests, Spartan Digital is your home. Go to Spartan Digital at top of the Spartans Athletics home page or go to www.sjsuspartans.com/video.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up with all 16 of San José State's team through social media sites Twitter and Facebook. For Twitter go to @sjsuathletics and on Facebook become friends with Sammy Spartan.
The women's basketball Twitter handle is @sjswbb and Facebook page is /SanJoseStateWBB.
RADIO COVERAGE
KSJS (90.5 FM, San Jose) originates San José State women's basketball home broadcasts and select road contests.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TICKETS
Tickets for San José State women's basketball home games are free for all SJSU students with a valid student ID. Adult tickets are $5.00 and $3.00 for youth (12 and under).
Groups of 20 or more can buy discounted tickets at $3.00 per person by 5:00 p.m. the business day before the game via the Spartan Ticket Office at (408) 924-SJTX (7589) or (877) SJSUTIX (757-8849).
The Event Center Box Office opens two hours prior to tip-off for any weekend, holiday game or doubleheader and is open regular business hours (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) for weekday games or weekday doubleheaders.
PARKING
Parking for all San José State women's basketball games is in the University's Seventh Street Parking Garage. The Seventh Street Garage, located on the Northwest corner of San Salvador Street and Seventh Street, can be accessed through Seventh Street. Parking is $5.00.
GEORGIA STATE GAME TIME CHANGED
The Spartans next home game, against Georgia State on December 18, was originally scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. The first game of a doubleheader with San José State's men's basketball team, the tipoff has been moved up one hour and will now start at 4:30 p.m.
SCOUTING BAYLOR
The Bears play in the Big 12 Conference. They were 34-2 last year, 17-0 in conference action and ranked No.1 in the nation were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the round of 16.
Baylor (6-0) has yet to be seriously tested winning by an average of 45 points and having no opponent get closer than 30-points.
Odyssey Sims, a senior guard, is the team's leading scorer (27.3 pts) and earned Big 12 and ESPNW's National Player of the Week honors last week. Freshman forward Nina Davis is at 15.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per outing. Kristina Higgins, a sophomore center, is the team's leading rebounder at 7.3 per game.
Head coach Kim Mulkey is in her 13th season leading the Baylor program. The Women's Basketball Hall of Famer brought a 372-81 record, all with the Bears, into the 2013-14 season.
This will be the third time these programs have met with the Baylor holding a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series. The last meeting (11/29/02) was a 76-46 victory for the Bears in the GranTree Thanksgiving Classic (Bozeman, Mont.).
SCOUTING SACRAMENTO STATE
The Hornets play in the Big Sky Conference. They were 19-12 last year, 13-7 in conference action and reached the semifinal of the conference tournament.
Sacramento State (4-1) has won its last two games, 97-85 at Oregon (11/17) and 87-84 at Utah Valley (11/27). They host Saint Mary's on Thursday (12/5) ahead of their game against San José State.
Alle Moreno, a senior guard, is the team's leading scorer (15.8 pts) among four players averaging double figures. Junior guard Takara Burse is at 7.0 rebounds per outing and Fantasia Hilliard, a junior guard, dishes out 7.2 assists per game.
Head coach Bunky Harkleroad is in his first season leading the Sacramento State program. He brought a 258-123 career record into the 2013-14 season.
This will be the 26th time these program have met with the Spartans holding an 14-11 advantage in the all-time series. The last meeting (12/18/09) was an 84-81 victory for the Hornets on their home court.
CLIMBING THE CAREER LIST(S)
After little more than two seasons, Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Jr., G, Winchester, Calif.) is already in the top-10 of four San José State career categories. Her 1,075 points put her in 10th place and 13 from passing Rhoda Chew (1982-85) for ninth on the career list.
Her 322 free throws and 437 free throw attempts rank second and fourth, respectively. Cunnigan joins Cricket Williams (2001-04) as just the second player in Spartans' history with more than 1,000 points and 300 free throws. In addition, her .739 free throw shooting percentage is fifth all-time..
There are three categories, among the Spartans' career records, that Cunnigan should enter into the top-10 during this season. She is 7 3-pointers, 7 3-point attempts and one steal from the top-10 in each category.
Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.), had 64 blocked shots in her freshman campaign and has nine more this season, is already in seventh place in the program's career blocks list and is two from tying Shemekia Brown (1992-95) for sixth place.
WOODBERRY FEELING IT FROM DISTANCE
Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) ranks 17th in the nation in 3-pointers, making more than three per game. She leads the Mountain West with 22 3-pointers in the team's seven games and twice hit five trey's in a game.
SEEING DOUBLE
With four double doubles in just seven games, Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) ranks 21st in the nation and leads the Mountain West. She is on of two players in the MW with multiple double doubles and does all her work coming off the bench.
CRASHING THE BOARDS
Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.) and Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) are a one-two punch when it comes to rebounds. Smith has four double figure rebounding games and Byrd has three this year. The twosome are also the 1st (Byrd) and 2nd (Smith) ranked rebounder in the MW and are ranked 80th and 89th in the nation, respectively.
TWO INKED TO NLIs
The Spartans signed Myzhanique Ladd and Ali Bettencourt to National Letters of Intent to compete for the Spartans beginning in the 2014-15 school year.
Ladd is a 5-8 guard who attends Cleveland High School in Seattle, Wash. She has earned All-Metro League honors each of the past two seasons, led the team to the 3A state semifinals in 2012 and last year won the state championship. Over the past two years Cleveland has a 51-10 record, 30-2 in league action. Ladd has also competed in track and cross country in high school.
"MyMy (Myzhanique) is a combo guard who could play the one, two or three for us," head coach Jamie Craighead said. "She has great athleticism, quickness both north-south and side-to-side, and will be a great fit for what we want to do on both ends of the court. Her best basketball is ahead of her and, as a staff, we're excited to have her as a member of our first recruiting class."
A 5-10 guard at Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills, Calif., Bettencourt is a shooter with a quick release and deep range. She earned first-team All-Delta River League, The Sacramento Bee All-Metro Team, and Cal-Hi Sports All-State honors last year after Oak Ridge reached the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals.
"Ali is a pure shooter who I've been recruiting for the last two years. She can shoot it from 3-point range and has worked hard to develop her game off the dribble, which makes her a deadly offensive threat. She'll add much needed depth to our perimeter, which will allow us to go even faster."