San Jose, Calif. – Earning the ninth seed in the 2019 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Basketball Championship by virtue of its 65-57 victory over Fresno State on Thursday night, the San José State women's basketball team plays the eighth seed Nevada Wolf Pack at 2:00 p.m on Sunday.
#9 San José State Spartans (6-23)
vs.
#8 Nevada Wolf Pack (11-18)
Sunday, March 10, 2019 - 2:00 p.m. (PT)
Las Vegas, Nev. (Thomas & Mack Center - 18,500)
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 NEVADA
The Wolf Pack posted a 4-7 mark in non-conference play, went 7-11 in conference action and enter the 2019 Mountain West Basketball Championship as the eighth seed. Nevada played 13 games away from its home in the Lawlor Events Center, including a pair of losses on a neutral court. In Montana's Lady Griz Classic, in early December, they fell to UC Davis 84-68 and Northern Illinois 98-69. Entering the tournament, the Nevada has dropped three of its last four.
The Wolf Pack has two player who are scoring in double figures, led by jade Redmon's 14.7 points per game. Terae Briggs tops the squad in rebounding (7.7/g), steals (1.5/g) and blocks (0.8/g). Camariah King is dishing out 2.4 assists per contest, a team-high.
Amanda Levens is in her sixth season as a head coach and brought a career record of 61-93 in to 2018-19. Last year, in her first season at Nevada, she went 19-17.
ANDERSON ADDS SOPHOMORE 3-PT RECORD TO HER FRESHMAN MARK
With six threes in the Spartans victory over Fresno State (3/7), Megan Anderson (So., G, Fresno, Calif.) established a new sophomore three-point record at San José State with 61 threes. She adds the sophomore mark to her freshman record, set last year at 46. The sophomore record was taken from Analyss Benally who made 60 threes last year. Anderson's 61 threes are tied for eighth on the program's single season list and if she continues at her pace this season, 2.0/g, she could pass Dezz Ramos for seventh place. Ramos made 62 in 2015-16. For Anderson to keep the steak going and set a new junior three-point record next year, it will require making more trey's than the 90 Rebecca Woodberry dropped in the 2013-14 season.
SPARTANS DROP FRESNO STATE TO SECURE NINTH SEED IN MW CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
With its 65-57 defeat of Fresno State, avenging an earlier season loss in Fresno, the Spartans, who were left for dead six weeks ago, secured the ninth seed in the MW Championship Tournament. The team took control of the game midway through the first quarter by holding the Bulldogs SCORELESS for 12 minutes and rendered the conference's leading scorer, Candice White (18.7 ppg) meaningless in the game. White scored six points on 3-of-14 shooting including 0-of-7 from beyond the arc.
SPARTANS HEATING UP AT TOURNAMENT TIME
Left for dead just a couple of weeks ago, the Spartans have played their best basketball entering the Mountain West Basketball Championship. SJSU has won four of its last six, which includes the program's first win in ten tries at Colorado State, 78-70 on 2/20 and a 65-57 win over Fresno State on Senior Night (3/7). The only losses in the stretch are at New Mexico and at Wyoming, the second and third seeded teams in the tournament. Over its 29 games, SJSU has averaged 63 points per game, but in the last six have upped its average to 71 per game.
BENALLY ERUPTS IN VICTORY OVER SDSU
Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) scored a career-high 31 points in the Spartans 84-76 victory over San Diego State on Saturday. In doing so, she became the 19th player in San José State women's basketball history to score at least 31 points in a game and it was the 34th time a player scored at least 31 points in a game. She sank a single-game high seven three-pointers, which ties her with three other Spartans for The Event Center record. Her previous scoring high was 17 points against Boise State (2/9/19) and she hit five threes in a game twice before, the last time came against New Mexico in the 2017-18 season. The last time a Spartan scored at least 31 points in a game was when Dezz Ramos dropped 37 at Utah State on February 22, 2017.
DIVERSE SCORING OPTIONS...SO WHO YA GONNA SHUTDOWN
The Spartans have seven players who are averaging between 7.1 and 9.2 points per game and each of the seven has led the team in scoring at least three times this season. Raziya Potter (Fr., G, Tracy, Calif.), Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.) and Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) have each led the team in scoring five times, best on the squad, while Megan Anderson (So., G, Fresno, Calif.), Fieme'a Hafoka (Jr., G, Kihei, Maui) and Mikaylah Wilson (So., F, Ranco Cucamonga, Calif.) have led the team four times each.
MARQUEZ & THE MARCH 2 DAY OF DIMES
Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.) has been red hot getting the ball to her teammates. She is averaging 4.7 assists per game overall, in Mountain West play she is at 4.6/g. Against San Diego State on March 2, she had a career-high 15 assists, which was one off the program's single-game and The Event Center record, which was set by Cricket Williams against Tulsa on March 2, 2003.
TWO IN A ROW!
With its 73-60 victory over Air Force on February 23 in combination with a 78-70 win at Colorado State (2/20), the Spartans won back-to-back games for the first time in a while. You have to go back to December 20, 2017 (89-87 win over Southern Oregon) and December 28, 2017 (79-66 win over Utah State) to find the last time SJSU put together back-to-back wins.
SPARTANS GIVE IT TO SAN DIEGO STATE TO SECURE THIRD WIN IN FOUR GAMES
Junior Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) exploded for a career-high 31 points, including seven three-pointers, to lead the SJSU to a 84-76 victory over SDSU (3/2). San José State which had won three of its last four games at that point, had four players in double figures and did not shoot under 40 percent in any quarter en route to a 44.4 percent (28-of-63) shooting night. In addition, as a team SJSU equaled a season-best with 14 three-pointers, which was set at Colorado (12/6/18) and matched at Colorado State (2/20/19). For the game SJSU was 14-of-32 from beyond the arc, 45.2 percent, and made 14-of-19 free throws, 73.7 percent.
SJSU GETS REVENGE AGAINST AIR FORCE
Four players scored in double figures and the Spartans led by as many as 27 points before cruising to a 73-60 victory over the Air Force Falcons (2/23). On 7-of-8 shooting from the floor and 2-of-4 from the line, Mikaylah Wilson (So., F, Ranco Cucamonga, Calif.) led the Spartans with 16 points, which equals her career-high, and grabbed nine rebounds. Raziya Potter (Fr., G, Tracy, Calif.) and Danae Marquez (So., PG, Fresno, Calif.) each scored 12 points. Potter grabbed four rebounds and had three steals. Marquez grabbed two rebounds, five steals, eight assists and only one turnover. Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) added 11 points, one rebound, one assist, a steal and a blocked shot. The Spartans took the lead inside two minutes to go in the first and were never threatened after that. The win avenges an 88-77 loss in Colorado Springs on January 26.
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 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.
PICK YOUR POISON
Megan Anderson (So., G, Fresno, Calif.) and Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) have each hit 61 and 56 threes, respectively, this season and are the second most prolific three-point shooting duo in the Mountain West this season. They trail only Riley Lupfer (57 threes) and Braydey Hodgins (62 threes) who combined, have made two more this season. In MW play the roles are reversed. Anderson (43) and Benally (32) combined have made five more threes than Lupfer (29) and Hodgins (39), 73-to-68. In the Spartans last six game, in which Anderson and Benally have both started, they have combined for 34 threes and each has set or equaled a single-game career-high...so who ya gonna cover?
FINALLY...SOMEONE IN THE REAR-VIEW MIRROR
It took 13 games, but with its 78-70 victory at Colorado State (2/20), the Spartans climbed out of last place in the league standings. In combination with the team's victories over Air Force (2/23) and SDSU (3/2) combined with a pair of Colorado State losses, San José State has put distance between themselves and the Rams and are now focused on Air Force which, it is tied with in the Mountain West standings. Entering Friday's game the Spartans can not be caught by Colorado State and have the tiebreaker over Air Force.
LOVING THE THIN 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 (2/20) equals a season-high, which was set against the Colorado Buffaloes, in Boulder, back on December 6. In addition, at Air Force (1/26) 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 LOVING MOUNTAIN WEST PLAY
In the Spartans' 18 Mountain West games, all of them starts, Mikaylah Wilson (So., F, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) is averaged 7.7 ppg, has gone 60-of-121 (49.6 percent) from the floor and is pulling down 5.7 rebounds. In addition, over that stretch, she has 13 steals and 16 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 contests, Wilson was shooting just 32.6 percent (17-of-52), averaging 5.5 points and 3.1 rebounds.
BENALLY CLIMBING UP THE CAREER THREE-POINT LIST
With a career-high seven threes and a single-game scoring high of 31 points against SDSU (3/2), Analyss Benally (Jr., G, Shiprock, N.M.) moved into ninth place on the Spartans career three-pointers list and entering the Mountain West tournament has made 117 threes in 78 career games (1.6/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 59 games, Benally has made 116 threes, approximately 2.0 per game. That average ranks 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 59 games she would set the program's career three-pointers mark passing Kari Steele (1993-97) who currently holds the record with 199.