San Jose, Calif. – Coming off its second Mountain West win of the season, the San José State women's basketball welcomes the Air Force Falcons to The Event Center on Saturday, looking to avenge an 88-77 loss at Air Force last month and to win two games in a row for the first time this year.
San José State Spartans (3-21, 2-11 MW)
vs.
Air Force Falcons (8-17, 4-10 MW)
Saturday, February 23, 2019 - 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 SJSU Athletics Media Relations Office to attend any practice session.
QUICK LOOK AT AIR FORCE
The Rams posted a 3-7 mark in non-conference play, are currently 8-17 overall and sit in ninth place in the Mountain West with a 4-10 record. They have lost the last five in a row, including a 77-70 loss against Fresno State last week. The Falcons are 1-12 on the road this season, including a 0-7 record in road conference games. Air Force is being outscored by its opponents by an average of 16.7 points (71.2-to-54.5) in its 13 road games, but in league play that number has been slightly reduced to 15.3 points per game (70.3-to-55.0) in its seven road games.
Kaelin Immel's 13.1 points per game average paces the Falcons. Kassady Huffman, whose appearance on Walt McPherson court is questionable, leads the team in rebounds (6.6/g) and blocked shots (1.3/g). Briana Autrey is dishing out 2.2 assists, and Emily Conroe is at 18 steals per game, both team highs.
Chris Gobrecht is in her fourth season as the head coach at Air Force. She brought a 37-season 553-552 career-record into the 2018-19 season, which includes a 11-79 record in three year in Colorado Springs.
SPARTANS BREAK FORT COLLINS CURSE
From its first appearance in the 1983-84 season and in the eight subsequent appearances, the Spartans were never able to get a victory in Colorado State's Moby Arena. Finally, on its tenth try, San José State broke the curse of Fort Collins with its 78-70 victory on Wednesday night. The Spartans, who have suffered some very lopsided losses in Moby Arena, were on the verge of a victory there in 2016-17. SJSU had a five-point lead with 49 second to play, but CSU tied the game before regulation time expired and won it in overtime, 70-67.
With the win at Colorado State, New Mexico's The Pit is the only home arena, among conference opponents, where San José State is winless. SJSU is 0-4 all-time in Albuquerque and will try to break that skid on Wednesday night when they face the Lobos in The Pit.
FINALLY...SOMEONE IN THE REAR-VIEW MIRROR
It's taken 13 games, but with its 78-70 victory at Colorado State on Wednesday, the Spartans have climbed out of last place in the league standings. The teams have identical 2-11 conference records, but San José State, by virtue of its win, has the tiebreaker over the Rams.
DIVERSE SCORING OPTIONS
The Spartans have seven players who are averaging between 7.0 and 9.0 points per game. Each of the seven has led the team in scoring at least two times this season.
KEY TO VICTORY
It had only happened one other time this season, in the Spartans 68-59 victory against Utah State (1/30), and on Wednesday night it happened again, in SJSU's 78-70 win at Colorado State. San Jose State out rebounded it opponent. Against the Aggies it was a 45-40 margin and versus the Rams the Spartans wont the rebound battle 46-29.
The plus-17 rebounding margin is the largest for the program since a plus-18 rebound advantage in the opening game of the 2013-14 season against San Francisco State.
LOVING THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN AIR
This season the Spartans have enjoyed the thin air of the Rockies, making a total of 39 three-pointers in three games played in the state of Colorado. The 14 threes at Colorado State equals a season-high, which was set against the Colorado Buffaloes, in Boulder, back on December 6. In addition, at Air Force, in Colorado Springs, SJSU drained 11 treys. At CSU, San José State was 14-of-26 (54 percent) from beyond the arc; its second-best shooting performance from distance this season.
WILSON EMERGES IN MOUNTAIN WEST PLAY
In the Spartans' 13 Mountain West games, all of them starts, Mikaylah Wilson (So., F, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) is averaging 7.8 ppg, has gone 44-of-92 (47.8 percent) from the floor and is pulling down 5.9 rebounds. In addition, over that stretch, she has 11 steals and 14 blocks. In the game at San Diego State (2/2), Wilson recorded the second double double of her career with 16 points and 11 rebounds and two games later, vs. New Mexico (2/13), picked up her third and second in three games with 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
In the first seven games in which she appeared this season all non-conference games, Wilson was shooting just 32.6 percent (17-of-52), averaging 5.5 points and 3.1 rebounds, but since the start of Mountain West play, 12 games ago, things have taken a dramatic turn.
BENALLY CLIMBING UP THE CAREER THREE-POINT LIST
With four threes and a single-game scoring high of 17 points against Boise State (2/9), Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) moved into the 10th spot on the Spartans career three-pointers list and entering the Air Force game has made 106 threes in 71 career games (1.5/g). However, if you take into account that she played sparingly as a freshman (17 games and made just one three-pointer) the numbers are even more impressive. In the last 54 games, Benally has made 105 threes, slightly less than 2.0 per game. That average would rank third in SJSU history behind Rebecca Woodberry (2013-15) who made 171 in 61 games (2.8/g) and Dezz Ramos (2015-17) 145 in 61 games (2.4/g).
If Benally continues at her pace of the last 54 games she would set the program's career three-pointers mark with 214 passing Kari Steele (1993-97) who currently holds the record with 199. She currently is eight treys behind Cricket Williams (2000-04), who made 114 in her Spartans career and is in ninth place all-time.
DANAE HAVING A SEASON AND AGAINST UTAH STATE...A DAY
Point guard Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.), who had two starts last season, is making a big impact this year, getting starts in 21 of the 23 games in which she has appeared this season, but it goes well beyond that. Marquez has upped her scoring from 5.2-to-7.5 points per game as well as increasing her assists from 3.3-to-4.1 a game. Her steals are up to 1.4 per game from 1.2, and the 5-5 point guard is grabbing 3.1 rebounds per game.
MORE ON MARQUEZ...
In five of the last seven games, Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.) has scored in double figures and has upped her points per game to 11.4 during that span. At Colorado State she led the team with 17 points, including a career-high five three pointers.
In the team's win against Utah State (1/30), Marquez scored a career-high 21 points, dished out five assists, and grabbed two rebounds and had two steals. She was 6-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to secure the victory.
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 24 games the change is paying dividends. Hafoka's scoring average is up to 8.7 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-.413, three-point field goal percentage is .364 this year compared to .243 a year ago and the free throw shooting us up to .778 from .600. In addition, her assists average is up from 1.8-to-2.6. Earlier this season, Hafoka set her career scoring-high with 17 points against Pacific (11/29) and then matched it against Santa Clara (12/15).
IT'S A THREE THING
Offensively the Spartans are not shy when it comes to long distance shooting. Nationally, SJSU ranks 31st in three-point attempts, 50th in three-pointers made and 32nd in three-pointers 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. Entering the Colorado State game, her 106 career three-pointers put her in 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. Her .438 three-point shooting percentage is also a single-season record for the program. Her 90 career-threes entering the Colorado State game rank 13th all-time and her career .385 three-point shooting percentage is the best in program history.
MORE CAREER-LIST FACTS
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. Entering the Air Force game she has 53 threes in her career and sits in 22nd place on the career list and is one from equaling Chasity Shavers (2008-10) for 21st place. Kohlhaas not only launches threes, she makes them at a .331 percentage rate which ranks eighth on the program's career list.
With one blocked shot against New Mexico (2/13), Cydni Lewis (So., F, Long Beach, Calif.) passed Trisha Montgomery (1991-93) and Ta'Rea Cunnigan (2011-15) for 14th place on the career list. She currently has 55 in 54 games. If she continues on her career per game (1.0/g), she would finish the regular season with 66 career blocks which would slot her into 10th place on the career list.
Alexis Harris (Jr., C, Palo Alto, Calif.) has swatted 44 shots in 75 career games for an average of 0.6 blocks per game which slots her into 23rd place on the blocked shots per game list. She entered the program's career top-25 with a pair of blocks at UNLV (2/16) and currently ranks 24th on the all-time list.
With five assists against UNLV (1/19), Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.) moved into the program's top-25. Entering tonight's game has 192 in her Spartans' career and is in 16th place.
Mikaylah Wilson (So., F, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) ranks 22nd on the program's career blocked shots list. She has blocked 46 in her Spartans career and is one from 21st place and two from 20th place.