Aikman Fang (@AikmanFang) – SJSU women’s basketball Beat Reporter
San Jose State women’s basketball (3-19, 1-10 MW) fell 64-48 to Wyoming (15-7, 8-3 MW) on Thursday Night.
The Cowgirls hit the ground running, making their first four shots, and began with a 9-4 lead after Senior Center Allyson Fertig made a layup. Last season’s Mountain West freshman of the year finished with game-highs of 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Spartans started the game ice-cold, missing on all of their first four shots, and finished the first quarter shooting 3-10 with eight turnovers.
Wyoming led SJSU 21-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The Spartans’ offensive struggles continued as they shot 3-10 from the field in the second quarter.
Wyoming held a 30-21 lead at the end of the second half, despite only shooting a slightly better 4-11 in the period.
Through the first two quarters, the Spartans shot an inefficient 6-20 from the field and committed 12 turnovers. SJSU did shoot a precise 8-9 from the free line in the first half.
Senior guard Jada Holland had a team-high six points off 3-4 shooting at the intermission.
The Spartans closed the third period with a 7-0 run as freshman guard Sabrina Ma made a 3-pointer with two seconds left in the quarter and cut the Cowgirls’ lead to 44-39.
Fifth-year senior guard Aarion Nichols also provided six of her team-high 11 points in the third quarter. Nichols was the only SJSU women’s basketball to finish the game with double-digits in scoring.
The Cowgirls started the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run and extended their lead to 51-39 with six minutes left in the game.
The Spartans did shoot a much better 13-26 from the field and only committed six turnovers in the second half. Despite this, SJSU limped to a 64-48 defeat as it was only able to make one out of its first seven shots to start the fourth quarter.
“Got away from us a little bit in the fourth, still trying to dig ourselves out of the hole we got ourselves in the first quarter,” said head coach April Phillips.
SJSU women’s basketball will look to bounce back when it hosts Colorado (14-8, 7-4) at the Provident Credit Union Event Center next Thursday at 6 p.m.