Aikman Fang (@aikmanfang) – Women’s Basketball Beat Reporter
San Jose State women’s basketball (1-8, 0-0 MW) was defeated by Santa Clara (9-4, 0-0 WCC) 81-49 on Tuesday night inside the Leavey center in Santa Clara, Calif.
The Broncos began the game with a 6-0 run after junior guard Ashley Hiraki made a layup off a Spartans’ turnover.
Senior guard Jada Holland and sophomore forward Marisa Davis-Jones scored on back-to-back possessions to cut Santa Clara’s early lead to 6-4 with less than seven minutes left in the first quarter.
The Broncos responded with a 14-0 run and closed the quarter with an 18-9 lead over the Spartans.
SJSU cut their deficit to single digits when sophomore forward Nailea Nicholas laid up a second-chance bucket to make it 26-17 with five minutes left in the second quarter.
The Broncos ended the second quarter with a 40-27 lead after shooting 9-12 and scoring 14 points in the paint as a team.
Freshman guard Tess Heal led Santa Clara with 10 points at the intermission.
Davis-Jones led SJSU with seven points at the halftime break. She finished the game with 10 points.
The Broncos began the third quarter with an 8-1 run before sophomore center Amhiya Moreland made a jump shot to cut the Spartans’ deficit to 48-30.
Moreland scored seven of her 10 points in the third quarter.
Santa Clara finished the third quarter with a 59-37 lead after creating 12 points on SJSU’s six turnovers in the period.
Freshman guard Sabrina Ma scored eight points and was a perfect 2-2 from the field for the Spartans in the fourth quarter. Ma finished the game with 10 points.
The rest of the Spartans shot 1-14 in the final period.
Santa Clara went on to end the game with a 13-0 run and an 81-49 win over SJSU.
Three SJSU women’s basketball players finished the game with double-digits in scoring.
“We’ve got to find some more people that can put the ball in the basket consistently,” said head coach April Phillips.
SJSU women’s basketball looks to snap out its six-game losing streak when it returns home to the Provident Credit Union Event Center to play UC San Diego on Sunday night. It is the Spartans’ final nonconference game of season. Tipoff is at 5 p.m.