Jan. 13, 2016
Laramie, Wyo. - Junior point guard Dezz Ramos hit a clutch three with 1.1 seconds left to propel the San José State Spartans women's basketball team to a 67-66 win over the Wyoming Cowgirls on Wednesday night.
Ramos drove to the basket with 14 seconds to go and hit the layup to cut a three-point Wyoming lead to 65-64 and immediately called time out. Coming out of the stoppage, Paris Baird fouled Wyoming's Marquelle Dent sending her to the line for two free throws.
Dent hit the first but missed the second to make it 66-64. Emily Vann grabbed the rebound with 13 seconds to play and handed it to Ramos who raced up the right sideline into the frontcourt.
She cut to the top of the arc, got a clean look and hoisted a shot, which banged off the back of the iron. The ball went straight up eight feet, came down, rattled around and fell in with 1.1 seconds left. With no timeouts left, Wyoming inbounded the ball, but never got it off the baseline and the SJSU came away with the 67-66 victory.
It is the San José State's (6-10, 4-1 MW) first win in four tries in Laramie, a place where it had lost its previous three by an average of 30.1 points.
The Spartans trailed Wyoming (9-6, 2-3 MW) by 11 points, 61-50, with 5:21 to play before closing with a 16-6 run. Ramos, who finished with a team-high 26 points, had the team's final nine capped by the game-winning three.
The game didn't appear to be headed to an exciting finish after the first 10 minutes. The teams each hit four field goals, shot a combined 8-of-32 (25 percent) and Wyoming led 13-10. By the half the Spartans were shooting just 24 percent (10-of-41), but trailed by just six points, 28-22.
San José State opened the third period with a two-minute, 9-0 run to grab a 31-28 lead. It would prove to be the team's largest and only lead until the end of the game.
The teams traded buckets for the next four minutes, until back-to-back threes from Dent, who finished with a team-high 20 points, and Liv Roberts put Wyoming up 43-36. The Cowgirls took the seven-point advantage to the final quarter.
Riana Byrd finished with 13 points and scored the team's first five of the final period. Byrd has 956 career-points and is 44 from becoming the 14th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. She also grabbed six rebounds and had a pair of steals.
San José State outrebounded the Cowgirls 48-38, led by Myzhanique Ladd's team-high eight. Ladd also added six points. Jasmine Smith scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Baird also grabbed seven rebounds, equaling her career-high.
The Spartans rebounding advantage was reflected in the its holding Wyoming to just two second-chance points, while scoring 17 off its own offense rebounds. The Spartans also enjoyed a 44-22 advantage in points in the paint.
The Spartans return to The Event Center for their next game at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday as SJSU hosts Fresno State.
San Jose State vs Wyoming Cowgirls
1/13/16 7:05 p.m. at Laramie, Wyo. (Arena Auditorium)
SAN JOSE STATE 67, WYOMING COWGIRLS 66
SAN JOSE STATE (6-10, 4-1 MW)
Ramos, Dezz 11-24 1-2 26; Smith, Jasmine 7-13 0-1 14; Byrd, Riana 6-11 1-2 13; Ladd, Myzhanique 3-9 0-0 6; Harris, Nyre 2-8 0-4 4; West, Rachol 0-2 2-2 2; Baird, Paris 1-4 0-0 2; Kohlhaas, Andrea 0-1 0-0 0; Stevens, Ellie 0-4 0-0 0; Vann, Emily 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-77 4-11 67.
WYOMING COWGIRLS (9-6, 2-3 MW)
DENT, Marquelle 9-15 1-2 20; GOMEZ, Marta 5-13 3-5 14; ROBERTS, Liv 3-6 7-7 14; BAKER, Natalie 4-9 1-2 12; KUJALA, Riikka 1-1 0-0 3; LIGOCKI, Hailey 1-3 0-0 2; CAMPBELL, Marleah 0-1 1-2 1; SNODGRASS, Skyler 0-5 0-0 0; TUCKER, Rachelle 0-0 0-0 0; RACA, Tijana 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 13-18 66.
San Jose State................ 10 12 16 29 - 67
Wyoming Cowgirls.............. 13 15 17 21 - 66
3-point goals--San Jose State 3-17 (Ramos, Dezz 3-9; Harris, Nyre 0-2; WEST, Rachol 0-2; Kohlhaas, Andrea 0-1; Stevens, Ellie 0-2; Vann, Emily 0-1), Wyoming Cowgirls 7-19 (BAKER, Natalie 3-6; GOMEZ, Marta 1-5; KUJALA, Riikka 1-1; DENT, Marquelle 1-2; ROBERTS, Liv 1-2; SNODGRASS, Skyler 0-2; RACA, Tijana 0-1). Fouled out--San Jose State-None, Wyoming Cowgirls-None. Rebounds--San Jose State 48 (Ladd, Myzhanique 8), Wyoming Cowgirls 38 (BAKER, Natalie 12). Assists--San Jose State 4 (Harris, Nyre 1; West, Rachol 1; Ramos, Dezz 1; Stevens, Ellie 1), Wyoming Cowgirls 14 (DENT, Marquelle 7). Total fouls--San Jose State 14, Wyoming Cowgirls 9. Technical fouls--San Jose State-None, Wyoming Cowgirls-None. A-2523