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Kym Fortino

Spartans Head To Utah State Looking For First MW Win

San Jose, Calif. – The San José State women's basketball team completes the back half of a two-game conference road trip at Utah State on Wednesday morning.  It's Kids Day in Logan and tipoff is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. (PT).
 
San José State Spartans (1-13, 0-3 MW)
at
Utah State Aggies (8-7, 3-1 MW)
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - 10:00 a.m. (PT)
Logan, Utah (Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum - 10,270)
 
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.
 
QUICK LOOK AT UTAH STATE
The Aggies posted a 5-6 mark in non-conference play, but have put things together since the start of Mountain West play.  They have wins against Nevada, Air Force and Wyoming with the only loss coming at Fresno State.  Utah State is 4-3 at home this season, but two of those losses came against Oregon and BYU.  At home the Aggies are outscoring its opponents by an average of 7.1 points.  In its games in the Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum, Utah State is averaging 66.4 points a game and is giving up just 59.3.
 
Shannon Dufficy's 15.9 points per game average paces the Aggies.  In addition, Dufficy leads the team in rebounding (10.2/g) and steals (2.1/g).  Eliza West is dishing out 5.2 assists and Deja Mason is averaging 1.4 blocks per game, both team highs.
 
Jerry Finkbeiner is in his seventh season as the head coach at Utah State. He brought a 29-year career record of 553-350 in to 2018-19.  In his time at Utah State he has a 79-108 mark. 
 
WILSON IS STARTING TO ROLL
In the first six games in which she appeared this season, Mikaylah Wilson (So., F, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) was shooting just 28.3 percent (13-of-46), but starting four games ago, things have taken a dramatic turn.  In the last four games, three of them starts, Wilson has gone 16-of-22 (72.7 percent) and averaged 3.0 rebounds.  In addition, over that stretch, she has three steals and three blocks.
 
IT'S ALL ABOUT POSITIONING 
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 14 games the change is paying dividends.  Hafoka's scoring average is up to a team-leading 9.9 ppg from 6.1 per game last year and that is just the beginning.  Her shooting percentages are all up...field goal percentage is up from .355-to-.443, three-point field goal percentage is .362 this year compared to .243 a year ago and the free throw shooting us up to .625 from .600.  In addition, her assists and steals averages are up from 1.8-to-2.6 and 1.2-to-1.6, respectively.
 
Earlier this season, Hafoka set her career scoring-high with 117 points against Pacific (11/29) and then matched it against Santa Clara (12/15).
 
SETTLING IN NICELY
Raziya Potter (Fr., G, Tracy, Calif.) has scored in double figures in seven-of-14 games this season and has made ten starts.  After sputtering in the previous two games, she shot 60% (6-of-10) from the field leading the team in scoring with 14 points, grabbed four rebounds and had an assist at Boise State (1/12).
 
CYD IS NO KID
Cydni Lewis (So., F, Long Beach, Calif.) has emerged as one of the Spartans most dangerous threats...inside and outside, on offense and defense.  Lewis ranks first on the team in rebounds (5.2/g) and blocks (1.1/g), and is second in scoring (9.6/g).  She is the squads third best percentage shooter (.387) among those that have attempted at least nine shots per game, leads the team in three-point shooting (.500) and has gone to the line a team-high 47 times, knocking down 31 of them (.660).
 
IT'S A THREE THING
Offensively the Spartans are not shy when it comes to long distance shooting.  Nationally, SJSU ranks 43rd in three-point attempts, 71st in three-pointers made, 36th in three-pointers per game and is third the Mountain West at 8.3 threes per game.
 
In the 2017-18 season, two Spartans set program records for making threes.  Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) sank 60, which are the most by a sophomore in program history and the ninth most by a Spartan in a single season.  Coming into the Utah State game, her 86 career three-pointers place her 15 away from the top-10 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.  Her .438 three-point shooting percentage is also a single-season record for the program.  Her 69 career-threes entering the Utah State game rank 17th all-time and her career .388 three-point shooting percentage is the best in program history.
 
MORE CAREER-LIST FACTS
In addition to Benally and Anderson, who are firmly planted on the SJSU women's basketball all-time lists, three other Spartans appear in the career record book.
 
With a pair of three-pointers at Fresno State (1/3), Andrea Kohlhaas (Sr., F, Besigheim, Germany) moved into the top-25 on the program's three-point list.  Kohlhaas has 47 threes in her career.  Entering the Utah State game she is one three shy of Gretchen Seeley (1992-94) for 24th place and two away from Emily Vann (2014-16) for 23rd place.
 
 
With one blocked shot at Fresno State (1/3), Cydni Lewis (So., F, Long Beach, Calif.) tied Paris Baird (2017-19) and Teoma Taylor (2000-04) for 18th place on the career list giving her 48 in 44 games.  If she continues on her per game pace for this season (1.1/g), she would finish the regular season with 72 career blocks which would slot her into 10th place on the career list.  In addition to her shot-blocking prowess, Lewis is among the best percentage shooters in program history.  She ranks 19th at .455 (127-of-279).
 
Alexis Harris (Jr., C, Palo Alto, Calif.) has swatted 33 shots in 63 career games for an average of 0.5 blocks per game which places her in tie for 23rd place on the blocked shots per game list.
 
MARQUEZ
Point guard Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.), who had two starts last season, is making a big impact this year, getting starts in 13-of-14 games this season, but it goes well beyond that.  Marquez has upped her scoring from 5.2-to-6.4 points per game as well as increasing her assists from 3.3-to-4.1 a game.  Her steals are up to 1.7 per game from 1.2, but perhaps the biggest surprise is she is second on the team in rebounding.  The 5-5 guard is grabbing 3.7/g.
 
FAST BREAKS
Fieme'a Hafoka (Jr., G, Kihei, Maui) Captain...equaled her career-high with 17 points vs. Santa Clara (12/15) and shooting a team-best .443 (15th in the MW) from the field.
 
Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) has hit 103 buckets in her career, 86 of which are three pointers. Leads the team with 25 threes this year.
 
Cydni Lewis (So., F, Long Beach, Calif.) leads the team in blocks (15), rebounds (5.2/g), seventh and 15th in the MW, respectively.
 
Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.) leads the team with 57 assists (4.1/g) which ranks sixth in the Mountain West.  Second on the team (3.7/g) and set a single-game best with eight rebounds against CSUB (11/24). Is 15-of-15 from the free throw line
 
Raziya Potter (Fr., G, Tracy, Calif.) at San Diego (12/21) led the team with 15 points (6-of-9 FG) and added four rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.  The team's third-leading scorer (8.9 ppg) and third in assists (2.0/g).
 
Megan Anderson (So., G, Fresno, Calif.) has made at least one three-pointer in 36-of-44 career-games.  Hit a season-high three three-pointers at San Diego (12/21).  Last season led team with a .438 three-point shooting percentage.  Led all Mountain West freshmen and ranked fourth in the nation among freshman three-point percentage shooters.  Program's best career three-point shooter (.388)
 
Alexis Harris (Jr., C, Palo Alto, Calif.) set career-highs with 9 rebounds & 4 blocks vs. Southern Oregon (12/20/17). Ranks 23rd on the program's career shots blocked per game list (0.5/g).
 
Courtesy Clark (So., G, Sacramento, Calif.) equaled a career-high 8 pts against SFSU (11/6) and has already equaled or set new career bests in three-pointers, assists and steals.  
 
Andrea Kohlhaas (Sr., F, Besigheim, Germany) Captain...returned to action against SFSU (11/6) after a year rehabbing a leg injury sustained in the fifth game of last season.  Ranks 25th on program's career three-point list (47). This season 10-of-11 buckets have been 3-pointers.
 
Nefer León (Fr., G, Vitoria, Spain) scored a season-best five points at San Diego (12/21) and equaled it at Boise State (1/12).
 
Mikaylah Wilson (So., F, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) .750 shooting percentage in MW games is tops in the league. In the last four games she is shooting .727 (16-of-22).