Jan. 6, 2014
The San José State women's basketball team heads out on the road for the first of two Mountain West Conference games this week. The Spartans are in Fort Collins, Colo., to play the Rams of Colorado State for the first time since the 2006-07 season and are looking for their first MW win of the campaign.
GAME 14
at Colorado State (10-3, 2-0 MW)
Wednesday, January 8, 7:00 p.m. (MT)
Moby Arena, Fort Collins, Colo.
Streaming video available at www.sjsuspartans.com/video
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 (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.
FILLING IT UP
Averaging 82.1 points per game, the Spartans are the second leading scoring team in the Mountain West Conference and rank 21st in the nation. Just three years ago, the team was averaging less than 48 points, that's an increase of more than 35 points per game.
San José State has four players among the top-18 scorers in the league, the most of any team. Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Jr., G, Winchester, Calif.) ranks 2nd at 18.3/g. Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) is 7th (14.2/g), Classye James (Jr., G, East Palo Alto, Calif.) is 9th (13.7/g) and Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) ranks 18th (11.9/g).
CRASHING THE BOARDS
Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.), Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) at 8.5 rebounds and Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) at 7.2 rebounds are a one-three-five punch when it comes to rebounding in the Mountain West.
Byrd leads the MW (9.8/g) and ranks 49th in the nation. The three have combined for 16 double-digit rebounding efforts led by Byrd's seven, also tops in the conference.
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 1,184 points put her in 10th place. She is five points from moving ahead Rhoda Chew (1982-85, 1,188 pts.) for ninth.
Both her 357 free throws and 481 free throw attempts rank second on the program's career list. She trails only Cricket Williams (2001-04) in both categories. Cunnigan is 109 made free throws and 251 free throw attempts from tying Williams in each category.
She ranks 5th in career free throw percentage (.742) and 8th in career steals (171).
Cunnigan ranks 10th in 3-point attempts (226) and makes (71). She is 12 3-point attempts from tying Kim Skaggs (1989-92) and Sherry Yult for ninth place at 238 and is five made 3-pointers from tying Yult for ninth.
She joined Cricket Williams as just the second player in Spartans' history with more than 1,000 points and 300 free throws.
Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.), blocked 64 shots in her freshman campaign and has 20 more this season, is already in fourth place in the program's career blocks list. She is 54 blocks from tying Lamisha Augustine (2002-06) for third place all-time.
WOODBERRY FINDING SAN JOSE TO HER LIKING
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 (3.2) and leads all Mountain West shooters. Her 42 made 3-pointers are 15 more and her 117 3-point attempts are nearly 50 more than her next closest conference rival.
In addition, Woodberry is fifth overall in the MW, and first among juniors, in total rebounding at 7.2 per game. Her 5.4 defensive boards are third in the league.
SEEING DOUBLE
With five double doubles, Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) ranks among the best in the nation and leads the Mountain West. She, Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.) and Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) have combined for nine double doubles which also lead the league.
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 9.3 points and 9.8 rebounds.
HALL SERVING THEM UP
Britta Hall (Fr., G, Tualatin, Ore.) leads the Spartans and all Mountain West freshmen in assists, averaging 3.9 per game. In six of the team's 13 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.) are working their way back to the lineup and 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 McDonalds All-American nomination as a senior in high school. She is averaging 13.7 points, has reached double figure scoring in 10 games, including the last seven in a row. Her shooting has improved to .377 (55-for-146) and in 13 games is more than 85 percent of the way to her season scoring total from a year ago (178 points in 13 games in 2013-14 vs. 206 in 27 games in 2012-13).
SPARTANS FIRST FIVE SEE FIRST CHANGE
In head coach Jamie Craighead's up tempo offense every player on the roster will get lots of time on the court this season. Through 13 games, the Spartans have sent the same five out to start 12 games - Britta Hall (Fr., G, Tualatin, Ore.), Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Jr., G, Winchester, Calif.), Classye James (Jr., G, East Palo Alto, Calif.), Rebecca Woodberry (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) and Riana Byrd (So., C, Richmond, Calif.).
The first change to the starting line up came in the 12th game of the year, at Nevada (1/1). Jasmine Smith (Fr., F, Burbank, Calif.) was inserted in place of Hall.
SCOUTING COLORADO STATE
The Rams has started the year 10-3 overall and are 2-0 in Mountain West Conference action. They, along with Fresno State and Utah State, are in first place in the MW standings.
Colorado State is riding a six-game winning streak, including a 64-61 win at San Diego State and 62-50 victory over New Mexico to open the MW schedule. The Rams are 6-1 in Moby Arena this season.
Caitlin Duffy, a sophomore guard, leads the team and ranks 17th in the conference in scoring (12.2 pts). She also leads the team in rebounds (6.2/g). Senior forward Sam Martin and junior guard Gritt Ryder also score in double figures, 11.2 pts. and 10.2 pts., respectively. Martin tops the squad in blocks at 16 overall and Ryder's 4.5 assists per game also lead the team.
Head coach Ryun Williams is in his second season leading the Colorado State program. Last season the Rams were 11-19. Williams brought a 323-209 career-record into the 2013-14 season.
This will be the eighth meeting between these programs, with the Rams holding a dominating 6-1 advantage in the all-time series. San José State has played four times in Fort Collins and has yet to come away with a victory. The last meeting was in the 2006-07 season as was a 76-57 Rams win on their home court.