Jan. 23, 2014
San Jose, Calif. - The San José State women's basketball team returns to Walt McPherson Court on Saturday afternoon for a Mountain West match-up against the Boise State Broncos and look to extend their two-game home winning streak.
GAME 19
vs. Boise State State (9-8, 4-2 MW)
Saturday, January 25, 2:00 p.m.
The Event Center, San Jose, Calif.
Streaming video is available on the Spartan Digital Network at www.sjsuspartans.com/video
Live stats available at www.sjsuspartans.com
LIVE STATS
Fans can view live stats of all San José State women's basketball games, home and away, 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-FM (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.
CUNNIGAN SIXTH ON ALL-TIME SCORING LIST
Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Jr., G, Winchester, Calif.) has scored 1,282 career points and is in 6th place on the Spartans career-scoring list. She is 59 points from moving ahead Kari Steele (1994-97, 1,340 pts.) and into the top five all-time scoring leaders in program history.
She became the 13th player to reach the 1,000 point plateau in a game against UC Riverside (11/15). She accomplished the feat in 63 games, the second fastest in program history.
WOODBERRY SEVENTH ON SPARTANS SINGLE SEASON 3-POINT LIST
Rebecca Woodberry's (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) 53 3-pointers are good for 7th place on the San José State women's basektball single-season 3-point list. Woodberry is two 3-pointers from tying Natalie White (55 in 2007-08) of 6th place on the list. She leads the MW in 3-pointers (3.1/g) and ranks 13th in the nation.
BYRD TOPS CONFERENCE IN REBOUNDING
Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.) leads the MW (10.0/g) in rebounding and ranks 46th in the nation. Byrd ranks 1st in offensive (3.9) and 2nd in defensive (6.1) rebounds in the conference and her 10 double digit rebounding efforts lead the league.
TEAM SCORING CONTINUES TO GO UP - FOUR PLAYERS IN THE TOP-20
Averaging 78.5 points per game, the Spartans are the second leading scoring team in the Mountain West Conference and rank 30th in the nation. Just three years ago, the team was averaging less than 48 points, that's an increase of more than 30 points per game.
San José State has four players among the top-20 scorers in the league, the most of any team. Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Jr., G, Winchester, Calif.) ranks 2nd (18.9/g). Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) is 6th (14.1/g), Classye James (Jr., G, East Palo Alto, Calif.) is 16th (12.3/g) and Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) ranks 19th (11.7/g).
SPARTANS TOP MW TEAM ON THE GLASS
At 44.8 rebounds per game, the Spartans are the top rebounding team in the Mountain West and have three of the top-6 rebounders in the league.
Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.) leads the league at 10.0 boards. Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) is at 8.3 rebounds and Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) checks in at 7.5 rebounds. The three are a one-three-four punch when it comes to rebounding in the Mountain West.
CUNNIGAN IN TOP-10 OF FOUR MORE CAREER CATEGORIES
The number six scorer in program history, Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Jr., G, Winchester, Calif.) is also in the top-10 of four other San José State career categories.
She ranks 2nd in both free throws (388) and free throw attempts (522), trailing only Cricket Williams (2001-04) in both categories. Cunnigan is 78 free throws and 210 free throw attempts from tying Williams in each category.
She ranks 5th in career free throw percentage (.743) and 8th in career steals (180).
Cunnigan ranks 8th in 3-point attempts (255) and in makes (80). She is 42 3-point attempts from tying Sara Plavljanin (2011-12) for 7th place and is tied with Kim Skaggs (1989-92) for eighth in made 3-pointers.
Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.), who blocked 64 shots in her freshman campaign and has 24 more this season, is already in fourth place in the program's career blocks list. She is 52 blocks from tying Lamisha Augustine (2002-06) for third place all-time. With 16 points against Wyoming (1/18), Byrd reached the 500-point scoring plateau for her career.
WOODBERRY IS LOOKING LONG
Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) who transferred from Nebraska, has found her stroke from long range. She is 13th in the nation in 3-pointers made per game (3.0) and leads all Mountain West shooters. Her 53 3-pointers are 14 more, and her 139 3-point attempts are nearly 40 more, than her next closest conference rival.
Woodberry is one 3-point attempts from cracking the top-10 of the Spartans single-season list. Natalie White launched 153 in 2008-09 and ranks 10th. The single-season record is 212 by Jessica Kellogg in 2002-02.
In addition, Woodberry is T4 overall in the MW in total rebounding at 7.5 per game. Her 5.6 defensive boards are third in the league.
SEEING DOUBLE
With six double doubles, Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) ranks among the best in the nation and leads the Mountain West. She along with Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.) and Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) have combined for 10 double doubles which also lead the league.
SMITH AMONG THE TOP OF THE MW AND THE BEST FRESHMAN
Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) is just a freshman, but ranks in the top-15 of five categories in the Mountain West Conference. She is first in offensive rebounds (3.8/g), third in total rebounds (8.6/g), ninth in field goal percentage (.470), tied for sixth in defensive rebounds (4.8/g), 14th in steals (1.4/g) & blocked shots (0.8/g) and oh by the way she is 17th in scoring (12.3/g).
She is the highest ranked freshman in four of those categories and is achieving these numbers while coming off the bench in 14 of the Spartans 17 games this year.
BYRD PICKS UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF LAST SEASON
Last year Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.) was the first Spartan to average a double double, 11.4 pts and 10.9 rebs., in 23 years. In 2013-14 the beat goes on for Byrd. She is averaging 9.5 points and 10.0 rebounds, but is doing it in nearly six minutes less per game (28.5-to-23.1).
HALL SERVING THEM UP
Britta Hall (Fr., G, Tualatin, Ore.) leads the Spartans and ranks second among all Mountain West freshmen in assists, averaging 3.3 per game. In six of the team's contests Hall has recorded at least five assists and her season-high came against San Francisco (11/20) when she dropped eight dimes on the Dons.
STILL ONE OF THE YOUNGEST TEAM
San José State was the youngest team in Division I last year with just four years of collegiate experience on the roster (two years of Division I and two years of junior college). With injuries, which have sidelined several players, the Spartans are nearly right back to where they were last year. Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Jr., G, Winchester, Calif.), Classye James (Jr., G, East Palo Alto, Calif.) and Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) each have two years of collegiate experience. Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.) and Jayzyl Tauala (So., G, Pacifica, Calif.) have one year each of college experience.
BEING HEALTHY HELPS
Classye James (Jr., G, East Palo Alto, Calif.) was hampered by a hip injury all last season but gutted it out in 27 of the team's 30 games. She averaged 7.6 points, shot just .263 from the field and .183 from behind the arc.
With a summer to heal, James is showing the game that earned her a McDonald's All-American nomination as a senior in high school. She is averaging 12.3 points, has reached double figure scoring in a total of 10 games, including seven of the last 10.
Her shooting has improved to .363 (66-for-182) and in 17 games has already passed her scoring total from a year ago (213 points in 2013-14 vs. 206 in 27 games in 2012-13).
SCOUTING BOISE STATE
The Broncos are 9-8 overall and 4-2 in Mountain West Conference action heading into the match up with the Spartans on Saturday afternoon.
Boise State hosted New Mexico Wednesday night and won 74-60. They dropped their first two MW road games before defeating Utah State in their last outing away from home. Overall the Broncos are 1-6 in road contests this season.
Deanna Weaver leads the team in scoring (15.1/g) and is grabbing 6.0 boards/g. Miquelle Askew is scoring 13.5 points and pulling down 6.1 rebounds. Yaiza Rodriguez tops the team with 3.4 assists a game and scores 9.7 points.
Head coach Gordy Presnell is in his ninth season leading the Boise State program. He brought a 136-116 program record.
This will be the 23rd meeting between these programs. The Broncos hold a 12-10 advantage in the all-time series. The matchup features to long winning streaks. The Spartans put together an eight-game streak in the beginning of the series, but Boise won the last 10 matchups.