By Madyson Montoya (@MadysonMontoya):
On a night when senior Myzhanique Ladd became only the 17th Spartan to reach the 1,000-point mark, San Jose State fell to Utah State on the road, 86-78.
Ladd is the fourth player in the last three seasons to reach the scoring milestone as Dezz Ramos, Jasmine Smith and Riana Byrd were the last three to reach the feat.
“I honestly don’t know what to say.” Ladd said to SJSU Athletics. “When I go out there I just play my game, I play the way that Coach Jamie needs me to play.”
Her game-high 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting, nine rebounds and five assists wasn’t enough for SJSU (7-21, 4-13 MW), which entered Tuesday’s game ahead of Utah State ranked ninth in the Mountain West.
The loss now sets the Spartans back tied for last place in the conference with the Air Force Falcons.
Leading scorer Taylor Turney came off the bench after missing the last two games and hit her first shot attempt, a 3-pointer which cut it to a 16-9 advantage for Utah State.
The Aggies built a double-digit lead after just 10 minutes of play thanks to careless Spartan basketball and got easy buckets in transition.
The turnovers continued as SJSU gave the ball away 20 times that led to 26 points for the Aggies.
Down 12 at the break, Ladd went into the locker room stuck at 999 career points. She struggled at the start of the second half but hit a running floater late in the third quarter to get her over the 1,000-point mark.
“Although it’s a good feeling, it’s not as good as winning,” Ladd said.
Defensively, SJSU was unable to keep up with Utah State’s Shannon Dufficy, who finished with a double-double as her 19 points and 16 rebounds led the Aggies’ attack both inside and out.
Dufficy, along with fellow starters Olivia West, Hailey Bassett and Rachel Brewster combined for 70 of the team’s 86 points.
Sharing the ball came easy for the Aggies against the Spartans, as the team had a season-high 24 helpers in comparison to SJSU’s 17.
Freshman shooting guard Megan Anderson hit six three-pointers to tally all of her 18 points, giving her 43 made treys on the season, tying the freshman record.
Freshman guard Danae Marquez, who made just her second start of the season, finished with 13 points and four assists.
Utah State led by as many as 24 with 8:34 left in the game, but SJSU put up 24 points within the last nine minutes of the game to drop the lead to 84-75 with 1:47 remaining. The Aggies held on however to win by double digits.
Senior Hallie Gennett, who came in 13 points away from also reaching 1,000 career points, was held scoreless and remains at 987.
The Spartans face last-place Air Force (4-24, 4-13 MW) next on Senior Night Friday. The Falcons upset the conference’s No. 1 team Wyoming Tuesday night for their fourth conference win of the season.
It will be the last chance for the Spartans to get a win before they head to Las Vegas for the Mountain West tournament. The losing team will become the lowest-ranked in conference.