Las Vegas, Nev. – The Nevada Wolf Pack went to the free throw line 20 more times and made 17 more attempts en route to a 78-68 victory over the San José State women's basketball team in the opening round of the 2019 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Women's Basketball Championship.
Danae Marquez and her 19 points paced San José State's offense. She was 7-of-15 from the floor, including equaling her career-high with five three pointers, had five assists and four steals. Fieme'a Hafoka scored 15 points, dished out three assists and grabbed three boards. Cydni Lewis added 14 points and pulled down two rebounds.
For the game, the Spartans (6-24) out shot the Wolf Pack 43 percent (23-of-54) to 40 percent (23-of-57) and hit 13 threes to Nevada's six. But from the free throw line, UNR won the game. SJSU was called for 24 fouls and watched Nevada make 26-of-31 tries. San José State went 9-of-11 from the line on nine Wolf Pack fouls.
Marquez got the Spartan going with a three to give the team an early lead, but it would be the last time the Spartans were in front. The Wolf Pack went on a 10-2 run to take a 15-5 lead and ended the period up 19-10.
The Spartans battled back and tied the game 23-23 with 5:07 to go before the half. The game was tied three more times in the second quarter before UNR took a 33-30 advantage into the locker room.
In the third, the Wolf Pack (12-18) pried the lead out to 13 points, 54-41, with 57 seconds to go and was up 54-44 heading into the final period.
Down 56-46 with 8:22 to play, SJSU mounted a furious comeback.
Marquez hit back-to-back threes to make it a four-point game, 56-52. After a Nevada free throw, Mikaylah Wilson completed a three-point play to get the Spartans to within two, 57-55. The teams exchanged threes, the Spartans from Analyss Benally, and on a jumper from Hafoka the game was tied 60-60 with 4:54 to go.
But all the hard work went a rye, when Emma Torbert, who made seven threes all season, hit three in a row to give Nevada a 69-63 lead with 2:04 to play. From there the Spartans were forced to foul and the Wolf Pack knocked down 9-of-10 from the line to win 78-68.