By Vincent Rupena – Spear reporter
Freshman Sydni Summers taking in the moment as the play ends. I Photo by Andrew Hartley – The Spear
San Jose State women’s basketball lost in the first round of the Mountain West tournament against San Diego State 72-51.
There was never a moment the Spartans led Sunday. “We just never got going. From start to finish never really got into a groove,” SJSU head coach April Phillips said after the game.
The Spartans were trying to play catch up after the Aztecs opened the game with an 8-0 run.
SJSU’s troubles were especially present on the offensive end. The team had only scored 18 points on 21.7% shooting by the end of the first half.
SDSU did a good job defensively clogging driving lanes and not allowing SJSU to get easy looks in the paint.
One bright spot offensively for the Spartans was freshman Sydni Summers who finished with a career and game-high 22 points. Most of her work came from the 3-point line shooting 4 for 11.
It is an impressive feat for a true freshman to lead her team in scoring in the tournament. Summers looked unphased by the gravity of the moment and appears to have a bright future at SJSU also achieving MW All-Freshman team honors.
The Spartans performed just as poorly on the defensive end as they did on offense. It would be hard for a team to win when they’re letting up 72 points.
The main reason as to why SDSU managed to score so many points was due to sloppy play. SJSU had nearly double the amount of turnovers its opponent had. The Aztecs scored 15 points off of turnovers in the first half alone.
The Spartans had multiple players get into foul trouble late in the game including junior Marisa Davis-Jones who fouled out in the fourth quarter.
It may be a sobering end for the Spartans this season but this team’s future has major potential.
“I think our underclassmen are prepared to get back to work and do something special here for the future,” Philips said.