Jan. 1, 2014
Reno, Nev. - The San José State women's basketball team shot just 32 percent from the floor and were beaten on the boards 66-to-46 in a 101-74 defeat at Nevada in each team's Mountain West Conference opener on Wednesday.
"Giving up that many rebounds and allowing them to turn them into easy chances the other way is a recipe for losing and tonight that's exactly what happened," head coach Jamie Craighead said.
Ta'Rea Cunnigan led the Spartans with 17 points, including 10-for-13 from the free throw line. She also had four of the team's 10 assists. Jasmine Smith, in her first college start, scored 13 points. Classye James had 11 and Riana Byrd added 10 points. Rebecca Woodberry grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Spartans (6-6, 0-1 MW) hit their first shot attempt, a layup from Byrd 30 second into the game. It would turn out to be their only lead on the night.
Danika Sharpe, who scored all her game-high 22 points in the first half, hit two 3-pointers in the first two minutes to give Nevada a lead they would never relinquish. She ended the half 6-for-9 from long range.
"We talked about and worked on denying (Sharpe) looks from outside," Craighead said. "Then we allow her to do that to us?"
James hit a layup with 11:55 to play in the half bringing the Spartans to within four points at 15-11, but SJSU failed to score on its next eight possessions over a three-minute span.
During that time, Nevada (6-6, 1-0 MW) made six of seven shots including two more 3-pointers from Sharp and had a 28-11 lead inside nine minutes to go before the half.
A James layup stopped the bleeding and after Byrd hit a jumper with 8:08 to go San José State was within 13 points, 28-15. They would get no closer.
Nevada closed the half outscoring the SJSU 25-15 and took a 53-30 lead into the locker room.
Despite shooting 30 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, the Spartans were getting quality shot attempts. But they hit just 9-of-21 in the paint and were 2-of-13 from long range.
"We just couldn't buy a bucket," Craighead said. "We weren't boxing out on the misses. They got the rebounds and beat us down the floor the other way for easy buckets."
In the second half San José State improved to 36 percent shooting, but Nevada was at 46 percent and took the 101-74 victory.
In addition to Sharp, Terilyn Moe and Arielle Wideman scored 12 points each for the Wolf Pack. Emily Burns had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Spartans return to Walt McPherson Court on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. for a Mountain West matchup with the Aggies of Utah State.
San Jose State vs Nevada Wolf Pack
01/01/14 6:30 p.m. at Reno, Nev. (Lawlor Events Center)
At Reno, Nev. (Lawlor Events Center)
NEVADA WOLF PACK 101, SAN JOSE STATE 74
SAN JOSE STATE (6-6, (0-1 MWC))
Cunnigan, Ta'Rea 3-12 10-13 17; Smith, Jasmine 5-12 3-6 13; James, Classye
5-13 0-0 11; Byrd, Riana 3-7 4-6 10; Hall, Britta 3-8 0-0 9; WOODBERRY,
Rebecca 3-12 0-0 7; West, Rachol 2-6 0-1 5; Baird, Paris 1-6 0-2 2. Totals
25-76 17-28 74.
NEVADA WOLF PACK (6-6, (1-0 MWC))
SHARP, Danika 7-16 2-3 22; WIDEMAN, Arielle 6-11 0-1 12; MOE, Terilyn 3-11
6-8 12; BURNS, Emily 3-6 3-4 10; MUNGEDI, Mimi 4-8 0-0 8; LESURE, Nyasha 1-3
5-6 7; JOHNSON, Aja 2-7 3-4 7; JONES, Ashlee 2-4 1-1 5; LATHAN, Iman 2-2 0-0
4; KAELIN, Kelsey 2-4 0-0 4; WILDER, Markie 2-3 0-0 4; SMITH, Amber 2-4 0-0
4; SHELBOURN, Julia 1-5 0-2 2; CAMERON, Anna 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 37-86 20-29
101.
San Jose State................ 30 44 - 74
Nevada Wolf Pack.............. 53 48 - 101
3-point goals--San Jose State 7-24 (Hall, Britta 3-7; Woodberry, Rebecca
1-7; James, Classye 1-5; Cunnigan, Ta'Rea 1-3; West, Rachol 1-2), Nevada
Wolf Pack 7-20 (SHARP, Danika 6-12; BURNS, Emily 1-3; MOE, Terilyn 0-2;
JONES, Ashlee 0-1; SMITH, Amber 0-1; SHELBOURN, Julia 0-1). Fouled out--San
Jose State-None, Nevada Wolf Pack-MOE, Terilyn. Rebounds--San Jose State 46
(Woodberry, Rebecca 13), Nevada Wolf Pack 66 (BURNS, Emily 10). Assists--San
Jose State 10 (Cunnigan, Ta'Rea 4), Nevada Wolf Pack 21 (WIDEMAN, Arielle 6;
MOE, Terilyn 6). Total fouls--San Jose State 20, Nevada Wolf Pack 22.
Technical fouls--San Jose State-None, Nevada Wolf Pack-None. A-590