Thursday, Feb. 28 WAC Women’s Recaps
Boise State 74
San Jose State 65
BOISE, Idaho (2/28/2008) - Ja’Lara Walker’s career night of 21 points and a school record 23 rebounds powered Boise State past a pesky San Jose State squad as the Broncos won their 12th game in a row 74-65 Thursday night in Taco Bell Arena at Boise. It is Walker’s third consecutive double-double while her 23 boards on the night broke a 33-year old school record for rebounds in a game dating back to February 27, 1975 when former Bronco Diane Westbrook had 21 against Eastern Oregon. The win gives Boise State sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference at 12-2 in league, Fresno State was idle tonight to remain at 11-2.
The game was ugly from the Broncos perspective as they struggle to find any rhythm in the game. Credit San Jose State’s tenacity for causing Boise State trouble throughout the contest. Each time Boise State would run off a small scoring streak the Spartans countered pulling back into reach.
The first half was rough for the Broncos as they settled for a two-point, 37-35, lead over a team they dismantled by 27 on the road in their previous meeting. The half saw four ties and six lead changes before the Broncos seized control of the scoreboard. The period proved to be a battle between Boise State’s Ja’Lara Walker who secured her double-double in the opening 20 minutes with 12 points and 11 boards, and San Jose State’s Natalie White who scored 19 of her game-high 27 points in the first period.
Boise State never relinquished their advantage on the scoreboard in the final half and eventually stretched their lead to a game-high 16 points, 65-49, with 5:20 to play. However, like they had done all night the Spartans came fighting back cutting the lead to six points, 71-65, with 30 seconds left on the clock.
Ironically, Boise State ended up winning the game at the free-throw line in the final seconds after having their worst night of the season at the charity stripe hitting an embarrassing 46.2 percent of their attempts,12-of-26. After San Jose State had cut the lead to six the Broncos’ Harris stepped to the line and hit two foul shots giving the Broncos a eight-point, 73-65, lead with 26 seconds to play. After the Spartans miss fired on a shot, sophomore Ja’Lara Walker hit one-of-two free throws with 14 seconds showing to give the blue and orange the final nine-point victory margin at 74-65.
Harris was the only Boise State player not to struggle from the line in the game hitting seven-of-eight from the stripe. Boise State was the WAC’s top free-throw shooting team entering the game making 72.1
percent of their attempts on the year.
San Jose State had no answer for Walker in the game as she led the Broncos with 9-of-19 shooting from the floor on the night. In addition, to her record 23 rebounds she also tied the school record for offensive boards in a game with 11. Jessica Thompson was second in scoring with 17 points to go with seven rebounds, and team-highs for assists and steals with six and five respectively. Tasha Harris was the only other Bronco in double figure points Thursday night with 13 along with her two boards, five assists, and two steals. Jamia Malone finished with seven points followed by Sierra Moeller with six, Jackie Lee with five, Brittany Moore’s three, and Jenna Galassi’s two.
Natalie White ended the game leading San Jose State with 27 points, eight rebounds, one assists, and two steals. Sayja Sumler was second with eight points, followed by Christine Martin with seven, and Brittany Powell with six points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Boise State now leads the WAC at 12-2 while improving to 20-6 overall to record the first ever back-to-back 20-win seasons in program history and only the fifth all-time. The win also increases their home win streak to 15 games which would unofficially tie for the sixth longest active streak in the NCAA. Meanwhile, San Jose State falls to 2-25 overall and 1-13 in conference. The Broncos conclude the home portion of the regular season schedule this Saturday night when they host the Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine at 7:05 p.m. (Mountain) in Taco Bell Arena.
There will be a short pregame ceremony honoring the program’s two seniors Jackie Lee and Amanda Stewart starting around 6:50 p.m.
New Mexico State 70
Nevada 49
LAS CRUCES, N.M.-The New Mexico State women’s basketball team reached win No. 20 of the season as they beat Nevada 70-49 at the Pan American Center Thursday, Feb. 28.
This is the first time the Aggies have reached 20 wins since the 1995-96 season when they went 20-10. NMSU improves to 20-6 this season and 10-3 in the Western Athletic Conference while Nevada falls to 18-9 overall and 9-5 in the WAC. Head coach Darin Spence is extremely proud of how far his team has come.
“Getting win No. 20 shows that all the hard work has paid off and all the time our coaches and players have put in,” coach Spence said. “I am really proud of all our kids and our staff.”
Senior Irma Kmitaite-Smith was joined by fellow senior Sherell Neal to lead the Aggies with 17 points each. Kmitaite-Smith was hot from three-point land as she was 3-of-4 from behind the arc. She was also 2-for-3 from the free throw stripe.
“She brought her game tonight,” Spence said. “She gives us a confident ball-handler who can also score points for us.”
NMSU out shot the Wolf Pack in the game 42 to 29 percent, while the Aggies added 16 points off turnovers compared to Nevada’s six.
The Aggies went on a 12-4 run after the half that was capped off by a Kmitaite-Smith three to give NMSU a 41-33 lead with 15:12 left in the game.
NMSU went on another run of 8-0 after the Wolf Pack had made a lay-up. The Aggies were up 49-35 with 12:29 left in the game. That was followed with another Kmitaite-Smith three to widen the lead to 52-36 after a Nevada free throw.
Consecutive lay-ups from Anikia Jawara, Neal and Tyshae Walton gave NMSU a 60-39 lead, before the Aggies kept their 10-0 run going to take a 64-39 lead with 5:39 left in the game. The Aggies held Nevada to 10 points up the 4:45 mark when a Wolf Pack player made a tough layup.
Jawara finished the night strong with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Neal got her 17th point of the game with a lay-up between two Nevada defenders to put NMSU up 68-41 with 2:44 left in the game. She finished with 12th double-double of the season as she pulled down 10 rebounds against Nevada.
The game was pretty much even in all aspects of the game going into the half where Nevada out rebounded the Aggies by one, 22-21. The Aggies came up with five points off turnovers, while the Wolf Pack had six. NMSU had six second chance points and the Wolf Pack had four, while the NMSU bench scored eight points and the Nevada bench scored seven.
Both Kmitaite-Smith and Neal led the way for the Aggies with seven points as both players hit a three. Neal also led her team in rebounds with six and Jawara pulled down five boards of her own.
The Aggies got the first lead of the game off a Jawara layup, but Nevada put on a tough full court defense that troubled the NMSU offense. Nevada went on a 7-4 run to take a 9-6 lead with 14:08 left in the first half.
Hannah Spanich tied the game up with a three from the corner, which was followed by a three from Neal to give NMSU a 12-9 lead. Kmitaite-Smith kept the run going with a steal, which she took coast-to-coast for a layup to stretch the lead to 14-9.
Nevada fought back and hit a three of its own to cut the lead to 14-12. After the Aggies made a free throw, the Wolf Pack hit two straight jump shots to take a 16-15 lead with 7:52 left in the half.
Kmitaite-Smith hit a three with 5:39 left in the half to get the lead back at 24-22. The lead didn’t last long as a Wolf Pack shooter hit a three and took the score to 25-24. Spanich tied the game up again at 25 a piece with 3:19 left in the half.
Monique Bribiescas was fouled as she drove strong to the basket, but she made the basket and the foul to give NMSU a 28-25 lead. Nevada hit a long two with 2:19 left in the half, then took the lead on a runner, with 1:10 left. The score was 29-28 in favor of the Wolf Pack before Jawara was fouled. She hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 29 with 54 seconds left in the first half which would end in that fashion.
The Aggies return action when they take on Fresno State at the Pan American Center, Saturday, March 1 with game time set for 7:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the radio at KSNM AM 570 with Jeanean Ford calling the play-by-play. Live stats, a recap and box score of the game will also be available for fans at www.nmstatesports.com.
Louisiana Tech 62
Utah State 47
RUSTON - Louisiana Tech used an impressive defensive performance to silence a red-hot Utah State squad as the Lady Techsters defeated the Aggies 62-47 Thursday night in Ruston.
The win snapped Utah State's three-game winning streak which included victories over Nevada and Fresno State.
Tech (13-13, 7-6 WAC) held Utah State to only 32 percent (18-57) shooting for the game, including limiting the Aggies to only one field goal in the first 12-plus minutes of the game as the Lady Techsters built an early nine-point lead they would never relinquish.
"I thought we played as well as we could defensively," said Tech head coach Chris Long. "They really pose some tough match-up problems with those quick guards. (Associate head coach) Joni Crenshaw did an outstanding job with the scouting report and our kids
Tech jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before Utah State's Jenny Gross scored on a layup with 15:50 to play. The Aggies wouldn't hit their next field goal until Gross scored again at the 7:28 mark of the opening stanza.
"We did a lot of switching on on-ball screens," Long said. "I thought our guards did a great job of fighting over the top of on-ball screens and then the few times they got hung up, our posts players did a nice job of stepping over and cutting off dribble penetration."
Freshman Tarkeisha Wysinger scored eight first half points to lead Tech to a 25-18 halftime lead as neither team shot the ball well with the Lady Techsters connecting on 32 percent (10-31) of their field goals and Utah State connecting on 28 percent (7-25).
The Lady Techsters opened the second half on a 6-0 run to grab a 31-18 lead and eventually pushed it out to 45-29 as freshman Adrienne Johnson scored six straight points in a two-minute stretch.
"I thought we executed offensively well tonight," Long said. "Even in the first half, we executed well but we just didn't hit some open shots. We played a lot of this game with two freshmen and two sophomores on the floor and I thought they all played within themselves."
Utah State used a couple of mini-runs to close the Tech lead to as few as 11 at 45-34 and again at 54-43 but the Lady Techsters defensive effort was simply too much for the Aggies to overcome.
Tech shot 52 percent (14-27) from the field in the second half.
Jo Sneed led Tech with 14 points, while Shanavia Dowdell added 13 points and 12 rebounds, Wysinger added 13 points and 11 rebounds and Johnson ended with 10 points.
Gross led Utah State with 14 points while Jamelah Brown added 10.
Tech returns to action Saturday when it hosts Nevada at 7 p.m.
Hawai?i 67
Idaho 54
MOSCOW, Idaho ? The University of Hawai’i women’s basketball team started Thursday night’s game slow, but came alive in the second half, leading to a 67-54 victory over the University of Idaho at the Cowan Spectrum in Moscow, Idaho.
The Rainbow Wahine went into the half tied with Idaho 21-21 at half, but outscored the Vandals 46-33 in the second 20 minutes leading to the victory. Megan Tinnin sparked the Rainbow Wahine in the second half and finished the night with a career-high 25 points.
UH swept the season series against Idaho and improved to 11-15 overall and 5-8 in WAC play. Idaho fell to 2-24 and 1-13 in conference play.
After a slow first half, Tinnin scored 20 points in the second half, including five 3-pointers. Tinnin also set a career-high with six 3-pointers in the game. Overall Tinnin was 8 for 12 from the floor and 6 for 9 from long range.
The entire offense started clicking for the Rainbow Wahine in the second half. UH shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half, and only committed six turnovers.
Senior Saundra Cariaga was the only other Rainbow Wahine in double figures with 13 points, including 9 of 9 from the free throw line. Tanya Smith added seven points and 10 rebounds and Keisha Kanekoa had six points.
In the first half, the Rainbow Wahine started slow offensively, but held Idaho to 21.4 percent shooting from the field, keeping them in the game, going into the break tied 21-21.
UH had its frontcourt of Smith and Tara Hittle in foul trouble and committed 18 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. Tinnin and Cariaga carried the load offensively, scoring five points and four points, respectively.
The Rainbow Wahine return to action Saturday, March 1 when they face Boise State at the Taco Bell Arena. UH will travel to Boise, Idaho on Friday, in preparation for the 7 p.m. tip (4 p.m. HST) on Saturday night.