Aikman Fang (@AikmanFang) – Spear Beat Reporter
Photo via Titus Wilkinson – The Spear
SJSU women’s basketball (4-24, 2-15 MW) never trailed once in its final home game of the season and triumphed 73-66 over Fresno State (10-20, 3-14 MW) on Saturday afternoon inside the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
Prior to tipoff, SJSU celebrated senior day with fifth-year senior guard Aarion Nichols, who provided 12 points, team-high eight rebounds, and three steals. It’s the ninth time this season Nichols has scored in double digits.
“I thought Oni (Aarion) played hard, but she does a really good job of rebounding, crashing the boards for us pretty consistently,” said head coach April Phillips.
The Spartans were a well-oiled machine both on offense and defense, making 46.3% of their shots from the field and scoring 23 points off the Bulldogs’ 23 turnovers.
Additionally, four SJSU women’s basketball players finished with double digits in scoring.
Senior guard Jada Holland finished with a team-high 21 points, three steals, and shot a perfect 9-9 from the free-throw line.
Freshman guard Sabrina Ma also provided 20 points and made a career-high six 3-pointers.
Sophomore forward Nailea Nicholas added 15 points on 7-8 shooting from the field.
The Spartans hit the ground running, making all four of their first four shots, and led 9-0 after a layup from Holland with 8:03 left in the first quarter.
SJSU led 20-11 after forcing Fresno State into committing 10 turnovers in the first period.
Holland and Nicholas both had seven points each at the end of the first quarter.
The Spartans’ offense cooled off in the second quarter, shooting 5-14 but led 33-28 as Ma added nine points on 3-5 shooting in the period.
The Bulldogs struggled in the first half, shooting 34.8% from the field but went an efficient 90% from the free throw line.
Ma helped SJSU to a 52-46 lead at the end of the third, as she cashed in a 3-pointer with eight seconds left in the quarter.
The Spartans came up clutch as they made 10-12 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and held off the Bulldogs’ comeback attempt. Holland went 8-8 from the charity stripe in the final period.
“It was good to see them come out and have confidence. . . and really believed that they could win a game,” said Phillips. “I think we saw that from start to finish, the belief that we deserve to win tonight.”
SJSU women’s basketball heads to Logan, Utah next to face Utah State in its final game of the regular season on Tuesday night inside Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.