By Nick Romeo — Content Editor, and Jarra Gojolo — Managing Editor
After San Jose State women’s basketball canceled the remainder of its 2020-21 season because of COVID-19 concerns, multiple Spartans have announced they are leaving the program.
UPDATE: Raziya Potter and Danae Marquez
Days after forward Tyra Whitehead announced she was leaving, guards Raziya Potter and Danae Marquez both announced they were doing the same.
Both players posted their announcements on Twitter.
Potter started three of the Spartans’ four games this season and was second on the team in scoring with 12.5 points per game. In 2019-20 the junior was third on the team in scoring behind Ayzhiana Basallo and Tyra Whitehead, also fifth in the Mountain West with 133 free throws drawn.
Marquez leaves San Jose 10th in school history in three-pointers made with 127, and eighth in school history at a 34 percent clip from deep. On top of her marksmanship the senior leaves SJSU as one of its top playmakers, fourth all-time in career assists with 344 in her 93 games as a Spartan.
The departures of two productive guards will be a big blow for an SJSU team that is already losing a key contributor in Whitehead. A squad that looked to be on the rise after a breakout 2019-20 season, the Spartans will have to come back with a re-worked group next season as they look to maintain their new-found position in the Mountain West.
Tyra Whitehead
San Jose State women’s basketball player Tyra Whitehead is leaving the program, the senior announced in a tweet Saturday.
If Whitehead is in fact done with Spartans basketball, her formidable frontcourt presence will be sorely missed.
In her lone full season as a Spartan in 2019-20, the transfer from Wake Forest led the team to a surprising 19-12 record and a third place finish in the Mountain West.
Whitehead was an all-Mountain West honorable mention last season, averaging 13.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.3 assists in 28.1 minutes per game. She is just the fifth player in program history to average a double-double for an entire season.
Whitehead shot 51.1% from the field, which stands as the third best field goal percentage in team history for a single season.
On Jan, 4, 2020 against Fresno State she scored 22 points and collected 20 rebounds, only the second 20 point and 20 rebound game in SJSU history.
Before the Spartans’ 2020-21 season was canceled because of COVID-19 issues, she was averaging 15.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2.3 assists per game in the team’s four games.
Whitehead won numerous awards during her two years at SJSU, including a Mountain West Player of the Week award in Jan. 2020. Her performance in the Spartans’ Nov. 25 win against Cal also won her a College Sports Madness Mountain West Player of the Week award during the brief season.
The Spear reached out to Whitehead but she declined to comment.
Follow Nick on Twitter @nromeo12