San Jose, Calif. – In the final game of a three-game home stand, the San Jose State women's basketball team host the UC Irvine Anteaters on Sunday afternoon, with the Spartans looking to return to winning form.
San José State Spartans (1-4)
vs.
UC Irvine Anteaters (6-0)
Sunday, December 2, 2018 - 2:00 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.
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.
HAFOKA IS HEATING UP
This season, Fieme'a Hafoka (Jr. , G, Kihei, Maui) has returned to her natural position, a wing, after a year out of position, at trail post. After five games the change is starting to pay dividends. In the last two games, Hafoka has set and then reset her career scoring-high with 14 points against CSU Bakersfield (11/24) and then 17 points against Pacific (11/29).
In the last two games, Hafoka is averaging 15.5 points on 13-of-21 (.619) shooting from the floor and 4-of-9 (.444) from three-point range. In addition, she is at 3.0 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals in the last two match-ups.
QUICK LOOK AT UC IRVINE
UCI comes to San Jose with a 6-0 record after defeating CSU Bakersfield 85-78 on Thursday evening. UC Irvine posted an 18-14 record last year, 10-6 in Big West Conference play and lost 70-60 to Nevada in the opening round of the Women's Basketball Invitational. So far this year, the Anteaters average 80.5 points a game and give up 59.0, a difference of +21.5 points per game.
UC Irvine has three players scoring in double figures led by Jordan Sanders (20.2/g). Sanders also leads the team in rebounding (7.8/g). Lauren Saiki leads the squad at 5.7 assists/game and Andee Ritter's 3.7 steals paces UCI.
Tamara Inoue is in her third season leading the Anteaters' program. In the two seasons leading up to this year, she posted a 23-40 record.
SJSU VS. THE BIG WEST
Overall, San José State is 68-155 (.305 winning percentage) against the current make up of the schools in the Big West Conference, with 99 of those losses coming at the hands of Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and Hawai'i. Of the nine teams in the Big West, the Spartans have winning records against just two - Cal Poly (8-6) and CSUN (8-5).
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 UC Irvine game, her 72 career three-pointers place her 29 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. Her 54 career-threes entering the UC Irvine game rank 20th all-time and her career .403 three-point shooting percentage is the best in program history.
MARQUEZ STEPS UP IN MULTIPLE WAYS
Point guard Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.), who made just two starts last season, is making a big impact this year. She already has five starts, but it goes well beyond that. Marquez has upped her scoring from 5.2-to-6.6 points per game as well as increasing her assists from 3.3-to-5.2 a game. Her steals are up to 1.8 per game from 1.2, but perhaps the biggest surprise is she leads the team in rebounding. The 5-5 guard is grabbing 4.6 boards a game compared to 1.9 a year ago.
GAME THREE OF A THREE GAME HOMESTAND
Wrapping up its longest stay at home this season, three games over 21 days, the Spartans host the UC Irvine Anteaters on Sunday. After a pair of road games at Colorado (12/6) and Nebraska (12/8), SJSU will back in The Event Center on December 15 for its final non-conference home game. The opponent is Santa Clara and will be the front half a doubleheader. The Spartans and Broncos tip off at 4:00 p.m. and the men's team follows at 7:00 p.m. against Northern Arizona.
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.) has hit 82 buckets in her career, 72 of which are three pointers.
Fieme'a Hafoka (Jr., G, Kihei, Maui) Captain...has set single-game scoring highs in back-to-back games (14 pts. vs. CSUB and 17pts vs. UOP). Leads team and the MW in steals (3.0/g).
Mikaylah Wilson (So., F, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) fourth on the team at 3.5 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 26 assists (5.2/g) which ranks third in the Mountain West. Leads the team (4.6/g) and set a single-game best with eight rebounds against CSUB (11/24).
Megan Anderson (So., G, Fresno, Calif.) has made at least one three-pointer in 27 of her 35 career-games. Last season led 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.
Cydni Lewis (So., F, Long Beach, Calif.) in the last two games is averaging 12.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 blocks while shooting .438 (7-of-16) from the floor and 9-of-12 (.750) from the line.
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.) has not played the last two games. 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 3-of-4 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 third-leading scorer (8.8 ppg).
Nefer León (Fr., G, Vitoria, Spain) scored three points in each of the first three games of the 2018-19 season.