By Israel Archie – Spear Reporter | Sophomore guard Sydni Summers in midst of dribbling the ball during a matchup against UC Berkeley on Nov. 9 (Photo by Nikita Bankar – The Spear)
San Jose State women’s basketball (2-3) is now below .500 after losing 86-76 to UC Santa Barbara (3-2) on the road.
The Spartans shot fairly well, shooting 50% from the field and 41% from behind the arc, but struggled from the charity stripe shooting only 65%.
“That was a battle (from) start to finish,” SJSU head coach April Phillips said in a video posted to SJSU Athletics.
While the Gauchos shot a little worse from the field at 48%, they shot 42% from the three and 85% from the free throw line.
UCSB guard Alyssa Marin dropped 31 points, being the leading scorer of the game. Most of the fifth year’s points came from the free throw line shooting 22-25.
“We have to get back in the gym, get better defensively (and) get better at really keeping that ball in front of us,” Phillips said.
The Gauchos also got some production from sophomore forward Zoe Borter and fifth year guard Anya Choice.
Borter dropped 17 points shooting 5-6 from the field and 50% from three. Choice scored 11 shooting 50% from both the field and behind the arc along with an 80% outing from the charity stripe.
The Spartans got double figures from sophomore guard Sydni Summers, who was the team’s leading scorer with 17. Most of her points came from behind the arc with five threes.
SJSU junior big Finau Tonga and senior forward Djessira Diawara also dropped double figures as Tonga had 14 and Diawara had 11.
Diawara had a perfect game from the field shooting 4-4, but the senior struggled with free throws hitting only 3-7.
The Spartans have a few days to regroup as they are scheduled to host Kennesaw State at 5 p.m. on Thursday.
