Jan. 27, 2018
Laramie, Wyo. - Cydni Lewis scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds in the third quarter, but it wasn't enough to overcome an early double-digit deficit in the San José State women's basketball team's 58-46 loss to the Wyoming Cowgirls on Saturday afternoon in the Arena-Auditorium.
Fieme'a Hafoka led the Spartans with 10 points. Lewis finished with nine points, six rebounds and two steals.
The Cowgirls got 62 percent of their offense from two players, Liv Roberts and Bailee Cotton. Roberts led all scorers with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Cotton was the inside threat with 16 points, eight in the lane and eight from the free throw line.
In the first seven minutes Wyoming (14-5, 7-1 MW) ran out to a 16-2 advantage and it looked like SJSU (6-14, 3-6 MW) was doomed to suffer its third consecutive blowout loss. But Analyss Benally hit a three pointer, one of two she made in the game, to halt the Cowgirls momentum and get the Spartans going offensively.
Myzhanique Ladd, who finished with eight points, six rebounds and an assist, made a couple of free throws and Taylor Turney hit a layup. Then, following a Mikaylah Wilson steal, Fieme'a Hafoka went coast-to-coast and nailed a buzzer beater to send the game to the second quarter with Cowgirls up 20-11.
Hafoka, who led the team with 10 points, and Wilson hit buckets around a Wyoming layup in the first minute of the second quarter to keep it a single-digit game, but with 8:08 to go Roberts sank a three pointer for Wyoming, which pushed the lead to 10, 25-15.
The Cowgirls kept the lead in double digits until Benally drained her second three to make it 29-20 with 4:10 to go and it was a 36-24 lead for the Cowgirls at the half.
Wyoming built its largest lead of the game, 15 points, a little over a minute and a half into the third quarter, but at that point Lewis took over for the Spartans. She made four of the next five buckets, including a three-point play with less than two minutes left in the period to send the game to the fourth quarter with SJSU down 37-43.
Wilson sank a jumper with 8:37 to play to get the Spartans to within four points, 43-39, but the Cowgirls then went on a 6-0 run over the made it 49-42, but San José State would get no closer and lost 58-46.
The Spartans lost the battle of the boards 39-to-32, and 11-to-8 on the offensive glass, which led to a 6-to-4 Wyoming advantage in second chance points. That was in stark contrast to its previous two games where SJSU was outrebounded 104-to-45 overall and was in a 45-to-7 deficit in second-chance points.
The largest discrepancy on the score sheet was at the free throw line. Wyoming went to the line 15 times and made 12. San Jose State was perfect for the charity stripe, but got there just three times.
The Spartans next game is in The Event Center on Wednesday, January 31 against the UNLV Rebels. Tip off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
San Jose State vs Wyoming
01/27/18 2:05 p.m. at Laramie, Wyo. (Arena-Auditorium)
At Laramie, Wyo. (Arena-Auditorium)
WYOMING 58, SAN JOSE STATE 46
SAN JOSE STATE (6-14 (3-6 MW))
HAFOKA, Fieme'a 5-10 0-0 10; Lewis, Cydni 4-7 1-1 9; Ladd, Myzhanique 3-5
2-2 8; Benally, Analyss 2-4 0-0 6; Wilson, Mikaylah 3-10 0-0 6; MARQUEZ,
Danae 1-5 0-0 3; Anderson, Megan 1-4 0-0 2; Turney, Taylor 1-10 0-0 2;
Clark, Courtesy 0-0 0-0 0; Harris, Alexis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-56 3-3 46.
WYOMING (14-5 (7-1 MW))
ROBERTS, Liv 7-14 2-2 20; COTTON, Bailee 4-11 8-10 16; GOMEZ, Marta 3-5 0-0
6; TAPIA, Clara 3-7 0-1 6; KEPENC, Selale 2-3 0-0 4; RAKOVIC, Sladjana 0-2
2-2 2; RUSK, Taylor 1-6 0-0 2; BAKER, Natalie 1-6 0-0 2. Totals 21-54 12-15
58.
San Jose State................ 11 13 13 9 - 46
Wyoming....................... 20 16 7 15 - 58
3-point goals--San Jose State 3-15 (Benally, Analyss 2-4; Marquez, Danae
1-1; Ladd, Myzhanique 0-1; Wilson, Mikaylah 0-1; Anderson, Megan 0-2;
Turney, Taylor 0-4; HAFOKA, Fieme'a 0-2), Wyoming 4-14 (ROBERTS, Liv 4-5;
GOMEZ, Marta 0-1; TAPIA, Clara 0-1; KEPENC, Selale 0-1; RAKOVIC, Sladjana
0-1; RUSK, Taylor 0-3; BAKER, Natalie 0-2). Fouled out--San Jose State-None,
Wyoming-None. Rebounds--San Jose State 32 (Lewis, Cydni 6; Ladd, Myzhanique
6), Wyoming 39 (COTTON, Bailee 8). Assists--San Jose State 4 (Turney, Taylor
2), Wyoming 14 (TAPIA, Clara 5). Total fouls--San Jose State 16, Wyoming 6.
Technical fouls--San Jose State-None, Wyoming-None. A-3141