San Jose State 68, Boise State 60
In a game which saw the lead change a total of 16 times, the San Jose State University women’s basketball team took the final one and held on to knock off Western Athletic Conference leader Boise State University, 68-60, on Senior Night at The Event Center on Thursday, February 22. The Spartans used a pair of 11-0 runs in either half to aid in the upset.
Fourth-year senior Brittany Morris and second-year senior Amber Hall were both recognized with their parents prior to the tip-off of the final home appearance of their college careers. Hall, from Morgan Hill, Calif., scored the first two points of the game and finished with four, to go along with seven rebounds and a career-high four blocks. She also matched her career best with two assists in a season-high 24 minutes of action.
With the victory, San Jose State improves to 4-24 overall and 3-11 in the WAC. Boise State, which entered the night a half-game ahead of Louisiana Tech for first place in the league standings, drops to 19-7 overall and 10-3 in conference play as the Spartans deny the Broncos their 20th win of the campaign.
About the play of Hall, Allen added, “Amber played a nearly-perfect game tonight. She had seven rebounds, four blocks and four points. Not bad for Senior Night. She was diving on the floor, and played some key minutes for us.”
The Spartans got out to a quick start, collecting the first 11 points of the game before a 30-second timeout by the visiting Broncos. Hall’s jumper opened the scoring before a three-point play by Alisha Hicks. A steal and lay-up followed by Myosha Barnes, with Hicks providing a nifty running jumper in the lane before another Barnes lay-up.
Amanda Stewart finally broke the scoreless stretch for Boise State with a basket at the 17:01 mark. A three-point play by Jackie Lee, consecutive buckets by Rebecca Kepilino and two Kepilino free throws then tied it at 11-11 with 13 and a half minutes to go in the half.
San Jose State briefly regained the lead twice on field goals by Lynette Jacobs and Hicks around another basket by Kepilino, before Boise State went ahead for the first time on the night, 16-15, on a three-pointer by Nadia Begay at 12:01.
The lead went back and forth four more times, with the Broncos holding a 21-19 edge heading into the final eight minutes following a Kepilino three-point play. Single free throws by Jenna Galassi and Kepilino made it 23-19 ahead of a basket by Spartan sophomore Natalie White.
White, in a reserve role for the first time this season after 27 straight starts, then answered a Kepilino three-pointer with a long-distance effort of her own to trim the margin at 26-24.
After Boise State matched its largest lead of the period at 29-24, the Spartans got back-to-back lay-ups by Jaime Hall and Jacobs, both on pretty feeds inside by Hicks, with Jacobs also getting fouled and converting the free throw for a 29-29 deadlock.
Fresno State 72, Louisiana Tech 57
Proving that home really is as sweet as advertised, Fresno State avenged a 38-point loss on the road with a 72-57 win over Louisiana Tech Thursday night. Chantella Perera led all scorers with 21 points and led the Bulldogs with 9 rebounds, as Fresno State grabbed just their second win over the Lady Techsters in program history.
Much of Fresno State's success came from the line, reversing some recent struggles with free throw shooting as the Bulldogs finished the game 19-23, led again by Perera who closed out the game with a 9-10 mark from the stripe. That, combined with 50% shooting in the second half helped offset a 44-40 Louisiana Tech edge on the boards.
Fresno State opened the game with a 5-2 start, all from Perera, but the senior guard was saddled with two quick fouls and had to sit for a period of the first half. Louisiana Tech took that break and opened up a 23-13 lead with 5:00 left in the half. The Bulldogs answered with a huge run, scoring 14 unanswered points capped by an Andrea Roberson three and a Tierre Wilson fast break to take a 27-23 lead. Louisiana Tech star Shan Moore connected on a three-point play to help Louisiana Tech pull ahead again by one, but Brittani Green hit a jumper from the top of the key at the end of the half to give the Bulldogs a 29-28 lead at the break.
Capitalizing on the momentum provided by the first-half comeback, the Bulldogs opened the second half with a 7-2 run, and worked their way to a 10-point advantage a48-38 with 11:14 left in the game. From that point, Moore and Amber Metoyer were able to cut the lead back to seven three-times, but Fresno State continued to have the answers in the form of back-to-back three pointers from Tierre Wilson or continued success at the line down the stretch.
Utah State 70, New Mexico State 67 (OT)
It took an extra five minutes, but Utah State's women's basketball team won for the fourth time in five games, defeating New Mexico State 70-67 in overtime here Thursday night. Taylor Richards scored 19 points for USU, which improved to 11-14 overall and 7-6 in the WAC. The visitors fell to 10-15 overall and 5-8 in league play despite a spectacular performance by Sherell Neal, who scored 28 points and had 19 rebounds.
Utah State rallied to force the overtime after trailing by as many as six points (52-46) with 7:38 remaining in the game. USU scored seven straight points to take a 53-52 lead at the 5:07 mark and the teams remained within three points of each other throughout regulation.
Neal tied the game for NMSU at 59-59 hitting the second of two free throws with :41 remaining before Richards hit two free throws for USU at the 30.7 mark. However, the visiting Aggies tied the game on a layup by Neal with 10 seconds left and a USU turnover on the ensuing possession sent the game into the extra period.
From there, USU scored on three straight possessions and led 66-63. Camille Brox came up with a big steal and dished to Jenny Gross, who scored on a layup to put USU up 68-65 with :58 left.
After Neal pulled NMSU within 69-67 on another layup with :05 left, USU's Jamelah Brown made the second of two free throws and a three-point attempt by NMSU's Cecilia Russell-Nava bounced off the rim to end the game.
Brittany Phillips was the only other USU player to score in double-figures as she pumped in 15 on five of seven shooting. Phillips moved into ninth place on the USU career scoring list as she reached double-figure points for the seventh straight game and 10th time in last 11 contests.
The Aggies played without injured guard Danyelle Snelgro. Camille Brox stepped into the starting role and responded by scoring nine points, grabbing six rebound, handing out four assists, and recording two steals, without a turnover in 34 minutes. The game was the second overtime contest of the year for USU, which had defeated Fresno State 81-75 in Logan earlier in the year. USU has now won five of its last six home games and improved to 7-4 in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum this season.
Nevada 75, Idaho 63
Seniors Traci Graham and Jessica Preslar each scored 17 points as Nevada topped Idaho 75-63 on Thursday night at Lawlor Events Center.
The win was the second straight for the Wolf Pack as Nevada improved to 14-12 overall and 8-5 in the Western Athletic Conference. Idaho fell to 5-20 and 2-12 in the WAC. Sophomore Dellena Criner added 16 points for Nevada, which included a 10-for-10 performance from the free throw line. Andrea Sitton scored six points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
Idaho had control of the game early on as the Vandals led by as much as seven points with under 7 minutes to go in the first half. But Nevada closed with a 19-7 run and took a 32-27 lead into halftime. The Pack kept the momentum going in the second half as it pushed the lead to as much as 19 points in the final 20 minutes before settling for the 12-point margin of victory.