Jan. 20, 2015
San Jose State Game Notes
San Jose, Calif. - The San José State women's basketball team and the Boise State Broncos, the top two scoring teams in the Mountain West Conference averaging 81.2 and 72.4 points, respectively, meet on Walt McPherson Court on Wednesday night.
GAME 18vs. Boise State (12-4, 4-1 MW)Wednesday, January 21, 7:00 p.m.The Event Center, San Jose, Calif.Streaming video is available on the Spartan Digital Network at www.sjsuspartans.com/videoLive 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 Digitalat 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.
CUNNIGAN SETS SAN JOSÉ STATE WOMEN'S HOOPS SCORING RECORD
With eight points at Colorado State (1/17), Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Sr., G, Winchester, Calif.) moved past Karen Mason (1,760 points from 1978-81) to become San José State women's basketball's all-time leading scorer with 1,762 career points.
Cunnigan drained a 3-pointer with 8:15 to play to tie Mason, whose record had stood for 34 years. Four minutes later, on what is vintage Cunnigan, she beat the defense back off a made free throw and on an outlet pass from Rebecca Woodberry (Sr., F, Phoenix, Ariz.) scored an easy layup to stand alone on the program's career scoring record.
NEXT UP FOR CUNNIGAN...THE SCHOOL SCORING RECORD
With the women's record in hand, the last scoring milestone at San José State forTa'Rea Cunnigan (Sr., G, Winchester, Calif.) is the school scoring record, which currently his held by Ricky Berry (1,767 points from 1986-88).
When Cunnigan passes Berry, she will become the 51st woman in Division I to top her school's career scoring list (men's and women's) according to records available from NCAA member institutions. Among the 51, she will be the fifth woman at a Mountain West schools to lead her institution in career scoring.
34...IT'S A MAGIC NUMBER
Current San José State career scoring leader Ricky Berry, who scored 1,767 points, wore #34 during his playing career. Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Sr., G, Winchester, Calif.), who is five points from tying Berry and six from taking sole possession of the school's career scoring title, also wears jersey #34. Coincidence?
CALHOUN NAMED A McDONALD'S ALL-AMERICAN NOMINEE
Breanna Calhoun, who signed a National Letter of Intent to compete for the Spartans beginning next year, is a 2105 McDonald's All American Games nominee.
Calhoun is a 5-7 point guard who attends Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, Calif. In each of the previous two seasons Calhoun led her team to the 2014 CIF Regional Final and in 2013 to the CIF Division I State Championship. In those years Bishop Alemany had a 57-13 record. Following her junior year, Calhoun earned first-team All-Mission League honors and was a second-team All-State Division I selection by Cal-High Sports. This year Bishop Alemany is off to a 14-2 start, 2-0 in league play, and are ranked fifth in the state and ninth in the nation.
CUNNIGAN AMONG ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS IN THE NCAA
Among Division I women's basketball players,Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Sr., G, Winchester, Calif.) ranks second free throws made (485) and free throws attempted (658). She is 10th in steals (233). Her 1,482 field goal attempts are 12th most among active women players and she ranked 19th in field goals (577). Her 16.6/g career scoring average is the 15th highest among current players. Finally, Cunnigan is the eighth leading scorer among active players with 1,762 career points.
SPARTANS CONTINUE TO TOP MOUNTAIN WEST IN SCORING
San José State is scoring 81.2 points per game, which leads the conference. The team is averaging nearly nine points more than its next closest rival (Boise State - 72.4 ppg). In addition to leading the Mountain West, San José State is the fifth highest scoring team in the nation behind DePaul (90.0 ppg), UConn (88.8 ppg), Baylor (86.2 ppg) and Notre Dame (85.4 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. The Spartans have eclipsed 100 points in a game three times this year and have come away with a victory each time.
BYRD CLIMBING THE SAN JOSÉ STATE REBOUNDING LIST
With four rebounds at Colorado State (1/17) Riana Byrd (Jr., F, Richmond, Calif.) slipped past Debbie Johnson for third place on the program's career rebounding list. Byrd has ripped down 705 rebounds in 76 games. Byrd began the season in ninth place with 603 career rebounds and has moved up six spots to third, but she has some work to do to reach second place (Rhoda Chew - 946 rebounds from 1982-85).
At her current pace Byrd could finish her career as just the second Spartan to reach the 1,000 point/1,000 rebound plateau. She would join Elinor Banks (1,672 points/1,062 rebounds - 1978-81) as the only players in program history to reach the milestone.
CAN YOU HANDLE PRESSURE...SPARTANS 8TH IN THE NCAA IN TURNOVER MARGIN
Through 17 games the Spartans have shown what their pressure defense is capable of doing. SJSU has forced its opponents to turn the ball over 382 times and in those, made 199 steals. San José State has made those opponent miscues pay off to the tune of a 353-232 advantage in points off turnovers. Nationally, the team ranks eighth in turnover margin at 6.82 and 15th in steals per game grabbing 11.2 per game. The team leads the Mountain West in both categories.
SPARTANS RANK 16TH IN THE NATION IN 3-POINTERS
San José State is hitting an average of 8.1 shots from beyond the arc per game, which ranks 16th in the nation and is second in the Mountain West, 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.
SCOUTING BOISE STATE
The Broncos are 4-1 in Mountain West play and enters their match-up against the Spartans with a 12-4 record. They are 4-3 on the road this year and averaging 68.7 ppg in seven games away from home.
Boise State is under the direction of 10th-year head coach Gordy Presnell. Entering the 2014-15 season Presnell had a 154-127 record with the Broncos.
The Boise State offense is led by senior guard Deanna Weaver who tops the squad in points (14.1/g) and steals (1.6/g). Camille Redmon, a senior center leads the team in rebounds (6.4/g). Sophomore guard Brooke Pahukoa is the reigning Mountain West Player of the Week. She averaged 17.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 blocks and assists as the Broncos went 2-0 last week.
This will be the 24th meeting between these programs in which Boise State owns a 13-10 advantage.