Dec. 5, 2014
Boulder, Colo. - Rebecca Woodberry scored 19 of a game-high 28 points in the second half, including seven of the team's final nine. She also made the shot that sent the game to overtime, but the San José State women's basketball team (4-4) hit just one of eight from the field in the extra period and fell to the Colorado Buffaloes 97-89 on Friday afternoon.
It's the second time in three games against a Pac-12 opponent that the Spartans have forced overtime. Unfortunately, San José State has come up on the short each time.
"(Colorado) really had to work for this win and we had our chances too, which is what you want on the road against an opponent like that," said head coach Jamie Craighead. "We had some individual players step up and have big games for us. We pressured them into some turnover and the pace was ours. We battled on the boards, especially on the offense glass,"
Woodberry, who had been struggling from the field, eclipsed her point output from the past four games with her effort at Colorado (6-1) and her six 3-pointers are second only to the she dropped seven on Georgia State last season.
"Tonight I hit an early shot and started to feel it," said Woodberry. "I had been struggling to get good looks. Tonight I was able to get to the basket through some gaps in the defense and that was what happened on the last shot of regulation."
The Spartans trailed 82-76 with 2:45 to play. Woodberry hit a pair of free throws to narrow the game to four. After a free throw pushed Colorado's lead to five points, Woodberry drained her sixth trey of the game to make it a two-point game, 83-81 with 1:54 left.
Thirty-six seconds later Ta'Rea Cunnigan drove the lane, hit a layup and tied it up with just over a minute left in regulation. The Buffaloes pushed the advantage back to two points with 57 seconds left. Each team missed its next shot and after Cunnigan grabbed a rebound with 22 seconds left, San José State called a timeout with 10 seconds to go to set up the final shot.
"We ran a play that gave our best two players an option," said Craighead. "Becca (Woodberry) sets the ball screen up top for Ta'Rea (Cunnigan). If T can turn it into a quick two she will. If not, Becca is open on the pop out for three. The thought is that it's either going to overtime on a drive by Ta'Rea or Becca hits the three for the win. Becca took the ball to the rim and sent it to overtime, which is fine. But I want her to know that she has the green light to take that three."
After making the initial hoop of overtime, the Spartans struggled from the field. They want 0-for-7 and Colorado hit 3-of-7 attempts.
"Our game is that we have to get to the rim against teams like (Colorado)," said Craighead. "I thought we settled for jumpers in overtime and they did as well. The problem was that they are a jump-shooting team. They are not great off the dribble at creating their own shots. We kind of took the pressure off them. We talked about not doing that but our kids were tired. We battled. I can't ask for any more."
Despite a size advantage for Colorado at every position, the Spartans were only out scored 30-28 in the paint and their 51 rebounds are a high for the season.
Aniya Baker, 12 points, and Ta'Rea Cunnigan, 18 points, were the only other Spartans in double figures. Riana Byrd led all players with 15 rebounds. Jamee Swan led Colorado (6-1) with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Haley Smith had 24 points and 12 rebounds.
San José State returns to action on Wednesday, December 10, in The Event Center. Tip off against the UC Davis Aggies is set for 7:00 p.m.
San Jose State vs Colorado
12/5/14 11 a.m. at Boulder, Colo. (Coors Events Center)
At Boulder, Colo. (Coors Events Center)
COLORADO 97, SAN JOSE STATE 89
SAN JOSE STATE (4-4)
Woodberry, Rebecca 8-20 6-6 28; Cunnigan, Ta'Rea 5-15 7-9 18; Baker, Aniya
3-10 5-6 12; Byrd, Riana 2-10 4-8 8; West, Rachol 2-9 3-3 8; Smith, Jasmine
3-5 0-2 6; Bettencourt, Ali 2-6 0-0 6; Vann, Emily 1-3 0-0 2; LADD,
Myzhanique 0-3 1-2 1; Thomas, Chereese 0-2 0-0 0; Baird, Paris 0-2 0-0 0.
Totals 26-85 26-36 89.
COLORADO (6-1)
Swan, Jamee 9-14 8-13 26; Smith, Haley 10-14 2-2 24; Reese, Jen 8-19 1-2 17;
Huggins, Lauren 4-7 0-0 12; Kresl, Lexy 1-8 6-6 8; Sborov, Jasmine 1-7 0-2
3; Thomas, Brecca 1-5 0-0 3; Beard-Fails, Zoe 1-3 0-0 2; Correal, Zoe 1-1
0-0 2; Hartmann, Alina 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 36-79 17-25 97.
San Jose State................ 46 39 4 - 89
Colorado...................... 50 35 12 - 97
3-point goals--San Jose State 11-29 (Woodberry, Rebecca 6-14; BETTENCOURT,
Ali 2-4; Cunnigan, Ta'Rea 1-3; Baker, Aniya 1-4; West, Rachol 1-4), Colorado
8-22 (Huggins, Lauren 4-7; Smith, Haley 2-2; Thomas, Brecca 1-4; Sborov,
Jasmine 1-2; Hartmann, Alina 0-1; Kresl, Lexy 0-6). Fouled out--San Jose
State-None, Colorado-None. Rebounds--San Jose State 51 (Byrd, Riana 15),
Colorado 60 (Smith, Haley 12). Assists--San Jose State 14 (Baker, Aniya 6),
Colorado 23 (Sborov, Jasmine 9). Total fouls--San Jose State 20, Colorado
24. Technical fouls--San Jose State-None, Colorado-None. A-1903