Dec. 9, 2014
San Jose, Calif. - Following six of its first eight games on the road, the San José State women's basketball team hosts two of its final three non-conference games on Walt McPherson Court beginning with the UC Davis Aggies on Wednesday evening.
GAME 9
vs. UC Davis (4-4)
Wednesday, December 10, 7:00 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
Fans across the nation can now listen to every Spartans' women's home game via Stretch Internet Radio. KSJS-FM (90.5 FM, San Jose) also originates 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.
OFFENSE...WE GOT OFFENSE...IT LEADS THE NATION!
The Spartans are scoring at a 92.8 points per game clip so far this season, which is the highest scoring average in the nation. San José State is in rarefied air among the likes of Baylor (91.7 ppg), Notre Dame (90.7 ppg), Mississippi State (90.4 ppg) and UConn (89.3 ppg) . Against Columbia (11/16) the team set a program and conference record for points in a game, when they dropped 119 on the Lions, which is the fourth highest single-game point total in the NCAA this year.
CAN YOU HANDLE PRESSURE...SPARTANS 2ND IN THE NCAA IN TURNOVER MARGIN
It's only seven games, but the Spartans shown an inkling of what their pressure defense is capable of this year. SJSU has forced its opponents to turn the ball over 208 times and in those, made 104 steals. San José State made those opponent miscues pay off to the tune of a 226-98 advantage in points off turnovers. Nationally, the team ranks second in turnover margin at +12.5 and 16th in steals per game grabbing 12.6 per game.
SHARING IS CARING...SAN JOSE STATE RANKS 36TH NATIONALLY IN ASSISTS
At 16.4 assists per game the Spartans are the top ranked team in the Mountain West Conference and are 36th in the nation. Aniya Baker (So, PG, Perris, Calif.) leads the team with 4.9 assists per game, which is good for second among MW performers and 51st nationally. Chereese Thomas (Gr., PG, Dublin, Calif.) is also in the top-10 in the conference, eighth, at 3.1 assists per outing.
THREES ARE THERE FOR THE TAKING...SJSU IS 11TH IN THE NATION IN MADE 3-POINTERS
San José State is hitting an average of 9.1 shots from beyond the arc per game, which ranks 11th in the nation, but taking and hitting threes are nothing new under head coach Jamie Craighead.
With 245 made 3-pointers and 793 attempts, the 2013-14 Spartans shattered the program's previous marks in each category. The previous record of 146 3-pointers in the 27 games (1999-00) was equaled in just 20 games (at UNLV 1/29) last season. In addition, they passed the previous record for attempts in a season (493 in 29 games in 2000-01) in that same game.
Both marks set Mountain West Conference records as well.
CUNNIGAN NEARS SAN JOSÉ STATE SCORING RECORDS
Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Sr., G, Winchester, Calif.) ranks fourth on the program's career scoring list with 1,629 points. She enters the game against UC Davis 131 points behind all-time women's scoring champion Karen Mason and 138 behind Ricky Berry for the school's all-time record.
She is closing in on Elinor Banks (1,672 points) in third place on the program's career scoring list and then Cricket Williams (1,666 points) who occupies second place before a final assault on the all-time records.
EVERYBODY INTO THE POOL!
In 2014-15, San José State is getting production up and down its lineup. The bench has scored 294 of the team's 742 points; 40% of the total production. In four of its eight games, all 11 have been in the scoring column and in three of the other four 9 players have scored.
In four of the last five games all 11 have logged double digit minutes, and in those games the Spartans are 3-1. The lone loss coming at #14 California.
CUNNIGAN ABOUT TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP UP IN THREE MORE CAREER CATEGORIES
In addition to the scoring record, Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Sr., G, Winchester, Calif.) is poised to move up a spot on four more career lists. She is one free throw from equaling Cricket Williams career record of 466. She is four 3-pointers from Cricket Williams for fifth place on the 3-point made list. With four steals, she will move into a tie for fourth place with Kari Steele on the all-time steals list.
SCOUTING UC DAVIS
The Aggies are a member of the Big West Conference, and come into their match up with San José State with a 4-4 record. In its last game, UC Davis defeated the Southern Utah Thunderbirds 76-53 at the Air Force Classic in Colorado Springs, Colo. UCD is 2-1 in games away from home this year.
UC Davis is under the direction of fourth-year head coach Jennifer Gross. She brought a 44-47 record with the program, her alma mater, into the season.
The Aggies have two players averaging double figures. They are led by a pair of forwards, senior Sydnee Fipps (16.1 ppg., 5.1 reb.) and Alyson Doherty (13.1 ppg., 7.6 reb.), a junior. Dani Nafekh, a freshman, is the team's assist leader at 3.0 per game. Doherty's 7.6 boards also leads the team.
This will be the 14th meeting between these programs, with UC Davis holding an 8-5 lead. The series has seen each school have four-game winning streaks. Currently the Aggies are riding a three-game spurt in which they have an average winning margin of 31.3 ppg. On its home court San José State is 2-2 against UCD.