Aikman Fang (@aikmanfang) – SJSU women’s basketball Beat Reporter
San Jose State women’s basketball (2-14, 0-5 MW) fell 84-58 to UNLV (15-2, 5-0 MW) inside the Provident Credit Union Event Center on Wednesday night.
The Spartans opened the game with a 4-0 after hitting their first two jumpshots.
Sophomore guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas then guided the Lady Rebels to a 9-4 lead after making all of her next three attempts from beyond the arc.
UNLV closed out the first quarter with a 20-19 lead.
Sophomore forward Marisa Davis-Jones led the Spartans with seven points off 3-6 shooting in the first quarter.
The Lady Rebels started the second quarter with a 7-0 run and led 27-19 after a 3-pointer from sophomore forward Alyssa Brown.
Fifth-year senior guard Aarion Nichols snapped the Spartans scoring drought with a 3-pointer with four minutes left in the period and cut the deficit to 27-22.
Nichols recorded six points in the second quarter, with a perfect 2-2 shooting from beyond the arc.
UNLV led SJSU 39-30 at the end of the first half.
Durazo-Frescas led all scorers with 12 points off 4-7 shooting at the intermission.
While Davis-Jones had a Spartan-high nine points off 4-10 shooting.
UNLV led SJSU 63-42 at the end of the third, after a 12-0 run in the final three minutes of the period.
The Spartans shot a subpar 4-15 in the third and ended the quarter by missing their final five shots.
The Lady Rebels finished the Spartans 84-58 after hitting all seven of their free throws in the fourth quarter.
Three SJSU women’s basketball players ended the game with double digits in scoring.
Davis-Jones provided a team-high 13 points, while Nichols and Ma put up 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Junior guard Jasmine Singleton also recorded two steals and extended her streak of games with a steal to eight.
“The second quarter we lost by eight, and then we came out. . . lost that third quarter by 15. So it’s that back-to-back deficit that really hurt us,” said head coach April Phillips.
The Spartans find themselves in a tough stretch of the season as they are on a 6-game losing streak and host (10-5, 3-1 MW) Wyoming on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.