San Jose, Calif. – Coming off its first win of the 2018-19 season, an 82-72 victory over CSU Bakersfield on Sunday, the San José State women's basketball team gets back to action on Thursday night in The Event Center against The University of the Pacific Tigers.
San José State Spartans (1-3)
vs.
The University of the Pacific Tigers (3-1)
Thursday, November 29, 2018 - 7:00 p.m. (PT)
San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center - 5,000)
LIVE STATS
Fans can view live stats of all San José State women's basketball games, home and away, by accessing the Live Stats feature at www.sjsuspartans.com. Click on the link on the women's basketball schedule page to follow the action.
VIDEO STREAMING
The Mountain West Network is your all-access passport to Spartan Athletics. For live and recorded video/audio of San José State women's basketball home and Mountain West road contests, the Mountain West Network is your home. Go to Mountain West Network logo at top of the Spartans Athletics home page or go to www.sjsuspartans.com/video.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up with Spartans women's basketball on all our social media platforms. The team's Twitter handle is @sjswbb, Facebook page is /SanJoseStateWBB and Instagram is sjsu_wbb.
SPARTANS GRAB FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON AT THE HANDS OF CSU BAKERSFIELD
Five Spartans scored in double figures and the team shot 54 percent from the floor en route to its first victory of the season, an 82-72 victory over the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners.
Fieme'a Hafoka paced SJSU with a career-high 14 points. She was 6-of-8 from the floor including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Cydni Lewis, Megan Anderson and Raziya Potter had 12 each and Danae Marquez finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Anderson drained a three with 8:24 to go before the half and the Spartans, with a 26-24 lead, were in front for good. They pushed the advantage to 15 points early in the fourth period before cruising to the 10-point victory.
Marquez's 11 points equaled her season-high. She also equaled a career-high with eight assists and set a career-best with eight rebounds. In addition to its 54 percent shooting, San José State made 12-of-22 shots (55 percent) from three-point range, both season highs.
QUICK LOOK AT PACIFIC
UOP enters the week with a 3-1 record and has wins against UC Davis (83-80), North Dakota State (75-68) and Wyoming (70-64) and a loss at #23 Cal (81-69). Pacific posted a 15-17 record last year, 7-11 in West Coast Conference (WCC) play. So far this year, the Tigers average 74.3 points a game and give up 73.3, a difference of +1.0 points per game.
Pacific has three players scoring in double figures led by Ameela Li (18.3/g). Li also leads the team in assists (4.5/g). Valerie Higgins is averaging 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals a game to pace her squad.
Bradley Davis is in his fourth season leading the Tigers' program. In three seasons at UOP he has posted a 38-55 record.
SJSU VS. THE WCC
Overall, San José State is 67-108 (.383 winning percentage) against the current make up of the schools in the West Coast Conference (WCC), with the vast majority of the losses, 35, coming at the hands of the Tigers. Of the ten teams in the WCC the Spartans have played, the team has .500 records against San Francisco (22-22) and Santa Clara (24-24), but has a losing record against the remaining eight teams in the league.
IT'S A THREE THING
In the 2017-18 season, two Spartans set program records for making three pointers. Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) sank 60 threes, which are the most by a sophomore in program history and the ninth most by a Spartan in a single season. Coming into the Pacific game, her 69 career three-pointers place her 32 away from tenth place on the program's career list.
Megan Anderson (So., G, Fresno, Calif.) dropped in 46 treys in 2017-18, a freshman record for San José State women's basketball and the 18th most for a single-season in program history. In addition to her program record, Anderson led all Mountain West freshmen and was the fourth most accurate freshman three-point shooter in the nation last season at .438 (46-105). Her .438 three-point shooting percentage is also a single-season record for the program.
BALANCED SCORING
If you do not include the two players who have averaged less than 10 minutes in the first four contests, seven of the remaining nine Spartans average between 6.3 and 10.0 points per game. That scoring balance led to the Spartans first win of the season, against CSU Bakersfield.
In that game, five players were in double figure scoring and every one on the active roster contributed at least two points.
GAME TWO OF A THREE GAME HOMESTAND
In the midst of its longest stay at home this season, three games over 21 days, the Spartans host The University of the Pacific Tigers on Thursday and then put a wrap on the homestand with a game against the UC Irvine Anteaters on Sunday, December 2.
After a pair of road games at Colorado (12/6) and Nebraska (12/8), SJSU will back in The Event Center on December 15 against Santa Clara.
BACK TO BASICS
In the 2018-19 season, head coach Jamie Craighead is emphasizing a "back to basics" approach, with particular attention being placed on the team's defense. Following a disappointing 2017-18 season, the first in which her Spartans failed to reach double-digit wins, Craighead will have to replace 45 percent of the team's offense, from what last season was the second youngest team in Division I women's basketball.
"Last year we were so young and it was a building year," Craighead said. "I don't like using that term, but ultimately that's what it was. With 11 underclassmen, it is going to take time to see results. But looking back, there was so much growth during the season. Our players competed and never made excuses, which is a testament to their resiliency and character. Last season will only help us this year and moving forward."
FAST BREAKS
Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) led SJSU with 60 3-pointers in 2017-18, a sophomore program record, and ranked 4th in the MW at 2.3/g. In her career, 69 of 79 buckets are three-pointers.
Fieme'a Hafoka (Jr., G, Kihei, Maui) Captain...played out of position last season (trail post), but returns to her natural position (wing) in 2018-19. Leads team and the MW in steals (3.3/g).
Mikaylah Wilson (So., F, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) second on the team at 4.0 rebounds per game. Was the squad's leading scorer at PSU (11/11) with 14 points.
Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.) leads the team with 20 assists (5.0/g) which ranks third in the Mountain West. Leads the team (5.3/g) and set a single-game best with eight rebounds against CSUB (11/24).
Megan Anderson (So., G, Fresno, Calif.) last season led the team with a .438 three-point shooting percentage. She led all Mountain West freshmen and ranked fourth in the nation among freshman three-point percentage shooters. Is currently 14th in the MW at 1.8 3-ptrs/g.
Cydni Lewis (So., F, Long Beach, Calif.) leads the team at 10.0 ppg and 0.8 blocks per contest.
Alexis Harris (Jr., C, Palo Alto, Calif.) set career-highs with 9 rebounds & 4 blocks vs. Southern Oregon (12/20/17) and finished 11th in the MW in blocks/g (0.8) in 2017-18.
Courtesy Clark (So., G, Sacramento, Calif.) ranks 5th in steals (2.7/g) and 8th in 3-pt FG percentage (.500) in the MW. Equaled a career-high 8 pts against SFSU (11/6) and has already tripled her three-point output from a year ago.
Andrea Kohlhaas (Sr., F, Besigheim, Germany) Captain...returned to action against SFSU (11/6) after nearly a year away rehabbing after a leg injury in the fifth game of last season. This season all three buckets have been 3-pointers.
Raziya Potter (Fr., G, Tracy, Calif.) started the first three games, the most starts for a freshman in the Jamie Craighead era since Britta Hall started the first 11 games of the 2013-14 season. The team's fourth-leading scorer (8.5 ppg).
Nefer León (Fr., G, Vitoria, Spain) scored three points in each of the first three games of the 2018-19 season.
COACH CRAIGHEAD AND PLAYER INTERVIEWS
All interview requests for Head Coach Jamie Craighead or any players should be made through the SJSU Athletics Media Relations Office, 408-924-1208, at least 24 hours in advance. Players are available as their class schedules, practices and meetings permit. On game days, players will not be available until post-game. Media members are also required to make arrangements with the San José State's Athletics Media Relations Office to attend any practice session.