Jan. 2, 2016
San Jose, Calif. - Four Spartans scored in double figures in the San José State women's basketball team's 81-60 victory over the Air Force Falcons on Saturday afternoon in The Event Center. The win improves the Spartans to 2-0 in Mountain West Conference play and marks the first time since the 2005-06 season that San José State has started league action with consecutive wins.
Seniors Nyre Harris and Riana Byrd paced the SJSU offense, which shot 43.5 percent for the game, the fifth straight game of 40 percent or higher shooting for the team.
Harris had a career-high 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point range. She hit 6-of-8 from the line, grabbed seven rebounds, had four assists and three steals in 31 minutes of action.
For the second game in a row, Byrd pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. She also scored a season-high 17 points, added four blocks, also a season-best, two assists and a steal in just 18 minutes.
Juniors Rachol West and Dezz Ramos scored 11 and 10 points, respectively. While Ramos, the conference's leading scorer coming into the game, was held to half her season average, she had five assists and four steals and a block. West, who hit three clutch three's in the team's 86-74 win at Utah State on Wednesday, was 4-of-6 from the field, including a pair of threes and grabbed three rebounds.
After finishing the first quarter tied 18-18, the Spartans (4-9, 2-0 MW) used a 29-point second quarter to take command of the game. They shot 60 percent (12-of-20) in the period, forced six Falcon turnovers and held Air Force to 14 points to take a 47-32 lead into halftime.
SJSU outscored Air Force (0-12, 0-1 MW) by two points in the third period and four in the fourth to earn the 21-point win. However, the margin might have been much larger, had the Spartans not missed 18-of-34 layups on the night.
Despite a height disadvantage, the Spartans out rebounded the Falcons 41-37. SJSU grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, which they turned into 15 second-chance points and nearly doubled up Air Force in points in the paint 30-to-16. It is just the third time in 13 games San José State has outrebounded its opponent.
Courtney Porter led the Falcons' offense with 17 points. Sarah Fotsch was also in double figures with 12 points.
San José State host San Diego State on Wednesday to close two games at home. Tipoff on Walt McPherson Court is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Air Force vs San Jose State
01/02/16 2:00 p.m. at San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
SAN JOSE STATE 81, AIR FORCE 60
AIR FORCE (0-12, 0-1 MW)
PORTER, Cortney 7-9 1-4 17; FOTSCH, Sarah 5-9 1-1 12; CLARKE, Rileymarie
2-11 0-0 6; GRAHAM, Sydney 2-4 0-0 5; WALL, Cheyenne 2-6 0-0 4; GLAAB, Darby
1-3 2-4 4; PARKER, Taylor 2-8 0-0 4; BORNGESSER, Maggie 1-2 0-0 2; FALVEY,
Sarah 1-3 0-0 2; JACKSON, Myah 0-0 2-2 2; BENNETT, Dee 1-5 0-0 2; CANTU,
Sarah 0-3 0-0 0; ITUGBU, Venessannah 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-63 6-11 60.
SAN JOSE STATE (4-9, 2-0 MW)
Harris, Nyre 6-9 6-8 22; Byrd, Riana 6-11 5-6 17; West, Rachol 4-6 1-1 11;
Ramos, Dezz 5-11 0-0 10; Ladd, Myzhanique 2-4 3-4 7; Stevens, Ellie 1-2 2-2
5; Smith, Jasmine 1-7 1-4 3; Kohlhaas, Andrea 1-2 0-0 3; Baird, Paris 1-7
0-0 2; Vann, Emily 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 27-62 19-27 81.
Air Force..................... 18 14 15 13 - 60
San Jose State................ 18 29 17 17 - 81
3-point goals--Air Force 6-15 (CLARKE, Rileymarie 2-5; PORTER, Cortney 2-2;
GRAHAM, Sydney 1-2; FOTSCH, Sarah 1-1; FALVEY, Sarah 0-1; BENNETT, Dee 0-1;
CANTU, Sarah 0-3), San Jose State 8-16 (Harris, Nyre 4-4; West, Rachol 2-3;
Stevens, Ellie 1-1; Kohlhaas, Andrea 1-2; Baird, Paris 0-2; Vann, Emily 0-3;
Ramos, Dezz 0-1). Fouled out--Air Force-None, San Jose State-None.
Rebounds--Air Force 37 (GLAAB, Darby 8), San Jose State 41 (Byrd, Riana 11).
Assists--Air Force 17 (PORTER, Cortney 4; CLARKE, Rileymarie 4), San Jose
State 20 (Ladd, Myzhanique 5; Ramos, Dezz 5). Total fouls--Air Force 18, San
Jose State 10. Technical fouls--Air Force-TEAM, San Jose State-None. A-316