Feb. 17, 2018
San Jose, Calif.------ Myzhanique Ladd of San Jose State University led all players with 26 points, but it was Marta Gomez's basket with 00.7 seconds left in the game that gave the University of Wyoming a 66-64 Mountain West women's basketball win.
The Spartans (6-19, 3-11 Mountain West) never trailed in the game until Gomez's game-winner. She finished with 15 points, 11 of them in the fourth quarter.
Ladd was the only San Jose State player to score in double-figures and did it despite early foul difficulties. The Spartan senior was 12-of-20 from the field and was the team's leading rebounder, too, with five.
San Jose State survived Ladd's two first-quarter fouls and held a 16-15 lead after the first-quarter. The Spartans led by as many as 11 in the first half, 30-19, with 4:53 to go in the second quarter after Courtesy Clark's only basket of the game and went into halftime ahead 35-27. Patient offensively, the Spartans made 57.7 percent of their field goal tries the first 20 minutes.
Staying in control, San Jose State had its biggest lead, 50-36 with 2:13 to go in the third quarter, after starting guard Megan Anderson hit a 3-pointer, her only basket of the game.
The Spartans still had a 60-52 lead with 4:39 after a Ladd drive to the basket, but a pair of Gomez three-point baskets cut the Wyoming deficit to 62-61 with 3:06 to go. Ladd scored San Jose State's final points of the game on another lay-up for a 64-61 advantage at the 2:08 mark. Wyoming's Natalie Baker responded with a basket and reserve forward Bailee Cotton made the second of two free throws to tie the score at 64-64.
After Gomez put Wyoming (18-7, 11-3 Mountain West) ahead, the Spartans still had 00.7 on the clock. Forward Cydni Lewis of San Jose State caught the in-bounds pass and made a field goal that was ruled by the officials to occur after the final horn sounded.
The Spartans played the end of the game without leading scorer Taylor Turney who injured an ankle in front of the team bench in the second half. Turney, who was averaging 13.9 points a game, scored 8 points and had a game-high 7 assists in 22 minutes before leaving the contest.
Both teams had identical 27-of-55 field goal shooting numbers for the afternoon. The Spartans edged the taller Cowgirls, 28-27, in rebounding, but it was Wyoming going back to Laramie with its fourth win in a row.
San Jose State's next game is at home against Nevada, Wednesday, February 21, in a 7:00 p.m. contest in The Event Center.