Jan. 14, 2017
San Jose, Calif. - Rachol West hit two three-pointers and Paris Baird sank a dagger three with 55 seconds to play as the San Jose State women's basketball team earned an 86-74 victory over the Air Force Falcons in Mountain West action on Saturday afternoon in The Event Center.
Leading 68-67 with 4:56 to play, West drained a three from the right side to push the Spartans lead to four points. Air Force clawed back to within a point, 71-70, but with 3:05 to go West dropped another trey, this time from the next area code to make the margin four points again.
The teams traded buckets over the next two minutes and with 55 seconds to go Baird took and sank what turned out to be the bucket, which effectively put the game out of reach. She got loose on the left side of the court, took a pass from Dezz Ramos and calmly knocked down the critical bucket of the game.
Ramos led all scorers with 31 points. She shot 10-of-23, including 3-of-7 from distance and was 8-of-8 from the line. The West Valley, Utah native dished out seven assists and grabbed two rebounds. It was her fourth 30+point effort in five Mountain West games and sixth of the season.
Jasmine Smith picked up her sixth double double in as many games with 23 points and 10 rebounds. She shot 10-of-14, seven of her 10 rebounds were on the offensive glass and she added a game-high four steals. Myzhanique Ladd scored nine points, had seven rebounds and dished out seven assists. West added nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range and Taylor Turney pitched in seven points in the win.
Air Force (2-13, 0-5 MW) shot lights out in the first 20 minutes. They hit a season best 16-of-27 (59.3 percent) and led 44-39 at the half. Mariah Forde, who led her team with 24 points, scored 16 in the first half and Dee Bennett had 11 of her 16 points before halftime.
The lead changed hands seven times in the five minutes of the third quarter, but with Turney's three-pointer with 4:55 to go in the period, the Spartans took the lead for good. Despite maintaining the lead, the game was still in the balance until the final minute.
San Jose State (6-11, 3-2 MW) hit five of its last six free throws, out scored Air Force 10-2 in the final minute to earn the 12-point win.
SJSU returns to action Wednesday, January 18 at Wyoming. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Laramie, Wyo.
Air Force vs San Jose State
01/14/17 2:00 p.m. at San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
At San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
SAN JOSE STATE 86, AIR FORCE 74
AIR FORCE (2-13, 0-5 MW)
FORDE, Mariah 9-17 1-1 24; BENNETT, Dee 5-11 5-6 16; PORTER, Cortney 4-5 2-2
10; HUFFMAN, Kassady 3-6 4-6 10; DAVIS, Kailin 2-11 2-2 6; CHAPMAN, Erika
2-4 2-4 6; ITUGBU, Venessannah 1-2 0-0 2; GLAAB, Darby 0-1 0-0 0; FALVEY,
Sarah 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 16-21 74.
SAN JOSE STATE (6-11, 3-2 MW)
Ramos, Dezz 10-23 8-8 31; Smith, Jasmine 10-14 3-6 23; West, Rachol 3-5 0-0
9; Ladd, Myzhanique 1-6 7-8 9; Turney, Taylor 2-7 2-2 7; Baird, Paris 2-9
0-0 5; Gennett, Hallie 1-4 0-0 2; HAFOKA, Fieme'a 0-1 0-0 0; KOHLHAAS,
Andrea 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-71 20-24 86.
Air Force..................... 22 22 13 17 - 74
San Jose State................ 18 21 21 26 - 86
3-point goals--Air Force 6-17 (FORDE, Mariah 5-9; BENNETT, Dee 1-3; DAVIS,
Kailin 0-5), San Jose State 8-23 (West, Rachol 3-5; Ramos, Dezz 3-7; BAIRD,
Paris 1-6; Turney, Taylor 1-1; Kohlhaas, Andrea 0-1; Gennett, Hallie 0-2;
Ladd, Myzhanique 0-1). Fouled out--Air Force-PORTER, Cortney, San Jose
State-None. Rebounds--Air Force 39 (BENNETT, Dee 11), San Jose State 33
(Smith, Jasmine 10). Assists--Air Force 11 (BENNETT, Dee 3; CHAPMAN, Erika
3), San Jose State 15 (Ramos, Dezz 7; Ladd, Myzhanique 7). Total fouls--Air
Force 21, San Jose State 18. Technical fouls--Air Force-None, San Jose
State-None. A-339