By Jonathan Canas (@jonathancanas_) – Spear Reporter
Freshman guard Jyah Lovett (left) dribbling up the court at the Event Center | Photo by Titus Wilkinson – The Spear
SJSU women’s basketball (2-2) started its first road game of the season without its second-leading scorer in junior forward Marisa Davis-Jones going up against Montana State (1-2) in a 62-49 loss.
The Spartans kept it a back-and-forth match for the majority of the game, forcing 11 turnovers in the first half.
However, the Spartans were outrebounded by 38-29, with the absence of last season’s leading rebounder Davis-Jones. The Bobcats also made the most of their second chance points, totaling 18 on the day while the Spartans had six.
By the time the second half rolled around it was a 24-23 game in favor of the Bobcats but this time the Bobcats maintained better control of the rock and limited their second-half turnovers to six.
With two minutes to go in the third quarter of her first career start, freshman guard Maya Anderson drilled a 3-pointer to give the Spartans a 40-37 lead. It was the last lead change of the night.
In the final two minutes of the third period, the Bobcats would score eight unanswered points to give them a lead at 45-40.
The Bobcats rode their offensive momentum into the fourth quarter and scored 17 more points to close out the game while only allowing the Spartans to score nine of their own.
Montana State senior guard Katelynn Limardo put up nine of her team-leading 17 points in the fourth quarter to close out SJSU 62-49.
SJSU had some positive takeaways as freshman guard Jyah Lovett scored a career-high 16 points. Lovett has led the Spartans in scoring through the first four games.
“Obviously being down Marisa hurts us a little bit,” said San Jose head coach April Phillips “I think it’s going to be a good learning lesson to be able to learn how to play on the road.”
SJSU continues its road trip against Loyola Marymount on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 2 p.m.