March 9, 2015
San Jose State Postgame Quotes
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Las Vegas, Nev. - For a squad that likes to set records, the San José State women's basketball team did it again on Monday by defeating Utah State, 99-85, in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
In winning the school's first Mountain West Tournament game, the Spartans set a myriad of tournament records, starting with the most points in a game with 99. That breaks the old record of 95 set by Colorado State last year in a triple-overtime game against Wyoming. San José State also broke records for most points in a half (59), field goals made (36), attempted (83), three-pointers made (14) and attempted (35).
Rebecca Woodberry led all Spartan scorers with 26 points including 8-of-11 from three-point range, tying a tournament record for threes made in a game. She finished 9-for-15 from the field with three rebounds, an assist and a steal.
"It's tournament time, and I want to make shots," said Woodberry. "I couldn't do it without my team. I was feeling it and getting open shots."
Ta'Rea Cunnigan added to her record-book collection on Monday by playing in her 120th game in a Spartan uniform, tying the record set by Lamisha Augustine from 2002-06. Cunnigan scored in double figures for the 104th time in her career with 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field, including 20 in the second half. She was limited to just five points in the first half as she played only 12 minutes after picking up two fouls.
Junior Riana Byrd etched herself into the record books as the San José State career blocked shot leader with one season left to play. She blocked three Aggie shots during the game and has 157 career blocks in three seasons, surpassing Elinor Banks who rejected 156 shot attempts from 1978-81.
San José State also set a school record for points in a season with this game. The Spartans enter Tuesday's game with 2,380 points scored this year, breaking the old record of 2,308 points set just last year.
"We shot the ball really well against UNLV Friday night and it carried over very well to this game," said Spartan head coach Jamie Craighead. "When Becca (Woodberry) is hitting, it opens up our offense. She is shooting really well right now."
The Spartans battled with the Aggies the first 10 minutes of the game, trailing 20-11 at the 14:08 mark and were down eight twice more. Utah State led 24-16 with 10:37 left in the half before San José State used a 24-8 run to take a 40-32 advantage into the locker room.
San José State maintained the lead the entire second half, pushing it out to as many as 17 points at 93-76 with 3:54 left in the game. The Aggies did get as close as three points in the second half at 57-54 before the Spartans scored five quick points to push the lead back to eight points.
With the win, the eighth-seeded Spartans play top-seed Colorado State in the quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon at 12 p.m. Fans can watch live on the Mountain West Network.
Utah State vs San Jose State
03/09/15 2:00 pm at Las Vegas, Nev. (Thomas & Mack Center)
At Las Vegas, Nev. (Thomas & Mack Center)
SAN JOSE STATE 99, UTAH STATE 85
UTAH STATE (8-23)
NAKKASOGLU, Funda 6-15 14-14 26; CLARK, Tilar 5-18 4-4 16; DJUKIC, Tijana
5-8 2-3 12; NELSON, Elise 4-7 2-2 10; STRIKAS, Ingrida 3-5 0-0 6; PORTER,
Jasmine 2-4 0-0 5; VAAULU, Franny 2-4 0-0 4; HUTCHINS, Hannah 0-0 4-4 4;
ANCHLING, Julianne 1-2 0-0 2; PECK, Baylee 0-0 0-0 0; MILES, Mariah 0-1 0-0
0. Totals 28-64 26-27 85.
SAN JOSE STATE (14-16)
Woodberry, Rebecca 9-15 0-0 26; Cunnigan, Ta'Rea 10-18 3-3 25; SMITH,
Jasmine 4-8 2-4 10; West, Rachol 3-8 1-1 9; Baker, Aniya 3-11 2-2 9; HARRIS,
Nyre 3-11 1-2 8; Byrd, Riana 1-6 4-4 6; Vann, Emily 2-4 0-0 4; Baird, Paris
1-1 0-0 2; Thomas, Chereese 0-1 0-0 0; Bettencourt, Ali 0-0 0-0 0; LADD,
Myzhanique 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-83 13-16 99.
Utah State.................... 32 53 - 85
San Jose State................ 40 59 - 99
3-point goals--Utah State 3-18 (CLARK, Tilar 2-7; PORTER, Jasmine 1-3;
NELSON, Elise 0-1; STRIKAS, Ingrida 0-1; ANCHLING, Julianne 0-1; DJUKIC,
Tijana 0-1; NAKKASOGLU, Funda 0-4), San Jose State 14-35 (Woodberry, Rebecca
8-11; West, Rachol 2-7; Cunnigan, Ta'Rea 2-6; Harris, Nyre 1-5; Baker, Aniya
1-4; Thomas, Chereese 0-1; Vann, Emily 0-1). Fouled out--Utah State-None,
San Jose State-None. Rebounds--Utah State 48 (NELSON, Elise 9), San Jose
State 36 (Byrd, Riana 8). Assists--Utah State 15 (NAKKASOGLU, Funda 7), San
Jose State 18 (Baker, Aniya 6). Total fouls--Utah State 15, San Jose State
18. Technical fouls--Utah State-None, San Jose State-None.
2015 Mountain West Women's Championships First Round
San José State advances to Tuesday's quarterfinals vs. #1 Colorado State at 12