March 2, 2018
San Jose, Calif. - The San Jose State women's basketball team had visions of sending seniors Myzhanique Ladd and Hallie Gennett out on a high note in their final game on Walt McPherson Court, but the Air Force Falcons had other ideas and defeated SJSU 66-60 on Friday night.
Ladd finished with a team-high eight rebounds and scored 13 points. Taylor Turney also had 13 points and dished out five assists. Fieme'a Hafoka added nine points for the Spartans.
San Jose State (7-22, 4-14 MW) made just 3-of-10 from three point range, equaling a season low for threes. They didn't hit their first of the game until there was 1:44 to play. That triple, by Analyss Benally, cut the lead Air Force lead to five points, 59-54.
Megan Anderson sank the next SJSU bucket, also a three, with one minute to play. It was the freshman's 44th of the season, and set a new program record for freshman three pointers. She passed Britta Hall who made 43 threes in the 2013-14 season.
Anderson's triple made the score 61-57, but SJSU would get no closer.
Air Force pushed its lead to nine points, equaling its biggest of the game, with 22 seconds to play. The team's last bucket, a three-pointer from Turney, made the final score 66-60.
SJSU hit the first bucket of the game, a layup by Cydni Lewis and the game was tied 4-4 with 7:50 left in the period. The Falcons then went on a 10-1 run and took a 20-13 lead into the second period.
SJSU held Air Force scoreless for over four minutes at the start of the second, but couldn't take advantage. When the Falcons finally hit a bucket, with 5:44 to play before the half, they lead 22-18 and pushed that advantage to 27-20 with 3:51 to go.
The Spartans closed the gap with an 8-1 run, led by four points from Hafoka, and went to the locker room tied 28-28.
Coming out of the half, Air Force outscored the Spartans 6-0. But by the 5:31 mark, a Danae Marquez layup had tied the game at 36-36 and a Mikaylah Wilson free throw, 30 seconds later, gave SJSU its first lead, 37-36, since it was 2-0.
The teams traded buckets for two minutes until a Cortney Porter free throw put the Falcons up for good 41-40 late in the third.
San Jose State would cut the Falcons' lead down to one, 50-49 with 6:45 to play, on a Benally jumper in the lane, but a 9-2 run would prove decisive in the six-point victory for Air Force.
The statistics for the teams were virtually the same, but Air Force outscored the Spartans 22-to-7 on second-change points. AFA outrebounded San Jose State 37-30 and grabbed 18 offensive boards to SJSU's 21 defensive rebounds.
Air Force (5-24, 5-13 MW) was led by 21 points from Kaelin Immel and 13 from Emily Conroe.
With the loss the Spartans are the 11th seed heading into next week's Mountain West Championship Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev. SJSU will play New Mexico, the sixth seed, on Monday night at 7:00 p.m.
Air Force vs San Jose State
03/02/18 7:00 p.m. at San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
At San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
AIR FORCE 66, SAN JOSE STATE 60
AIR FORCE (5-24, 5-13 MW)
IMMEL, Kaelin 6-12 9-12 21; CONROE, Emily 7-17 3-3 19; PORTER, Cortney 2-7
7-10 11; BEALE, Kennedy 3-6 0-2 7; URBANIAK, Jenn 2-3 0-2 5; BENNETT, Dee
1-8 1-2 3; PIERCE, Sarah 0-0 0-0 0; ITUGBU, Venessannah 0-1 0-0 0;
SPRINGFIELD, Alexis 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 20-31 66.
SAN JOSE STATE (7-22, 4-14 MW)
Turney, Taylor 4-11 4-4 13; Ladd, Myzhanique 3-7 7-10 13; HAFOKA, Fieme'a
4-7 1-2 9; Anderson, Megan 2-3 0-0 5; Benally, Analyss 2-6 0-0 5; WILSON,
Mikaylah 2-4 1-2 5; Lewis, Cydni 2-4 1-2 5; Marquez, Danae 2-2 0-0 4; CLARK,
Courtesy 0-1 1-2 1; Harris, Alexis 0-0 0-0 0; Gennett, Hallie 0-2 0-0 0.
Totals 21-47 15-22 60.
Air Force..................... 20 8 16 22 - 66
San Jose State................ 13 15 12 20 - 60
3-point goals--Air Force 4-16 (CONROE, Emily 2-6; URBANIAK, Jenn 1-1; BEALE,
Kennedy 1-2; SPRINGFIELD, Alexis 0-1; BENNETT, Dee 0-2; IMMEL, Kaelin 0-4),
San Jose State 3-10 (Anderson, Megan 1-2; Benally, Analyss 1-4; TURNEY,
Taylor 1-2; Gennett, Hallie 0-1; HAFOKA, Fieme'a 0-1). Fouled out--Air
Force-None, San Jose State-LADD, Myzhanique. Rebounds--Air Force 37
(BENNETT, Dee 13), San Jose State 30 (Ladd, Myzhanique 8). Assists--Air
Force 14 (PORTER, Cortney 7), San Jose State 10 (Turney, Taylor 5). Total
fouls--Air Force 19, San Jose State 26. Technical fouls--Air Force-None, San
Jose State-None. A-829