By Ajah Yee (@ajah_yee ):
Earning her 44th three-pointer this season against Air Force, San Jose State’s Megan Anderson set an all-time record for most three-pointers made by a freshman Friday night.
Despite the threes and the extra energy from senior night, the Spartans lost the game 66-60.
The tough defeat keeps the Spartans (MW 4-14) in 11th place in the Mountain West Conference ranks and bumps Air Force (MW 5-13) to eighth.
Seniors Myzhanique Ladd and Hallie Gennett were honored before the game, but didn’t get the result they wanted on senior night.
“All I can say is that Air Force really wanted it more,” said Ladd postgame. “They’ve been in last place for a while now and today they came out like they didn’t want to.”
Gennett, who entered the game again 13 points shy of the 1,000-point mark, was held scoreless for the second straight game.
However, Ladd and sophomore Taylor Turney led the team with 13 points apiece.
SJSU had a slow start as it gave up a 20-13 lead to the Falcons at the end of the first quarter. However, an 8-1 run managed to give the Spartans a comeback to tie the game 28-28 by halftime.
The comeback didn’t last long through the game. By the third quarter, the Spartans were down 44-40 and fell short for the win.
Ladd was in foul trouble and wasn’t able to be on the court in crunch time when things got close.
“I’ve never seen her pick up her fourth with just 11 minutes to go,” head coach Jamie Craighead said. “We just were really out of sync and when you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you foul.”
Fouls did the Spartans in as thy totaled 26 fouls — 11 more than the last two games.
“We really didn’t play that well on either end of the court,” Craighead said. “But we got to the free throw line more than we’ve been.”
The Falcons dominated the court with 20 made free throws and 37 rebounds. The Spartans, on the other hand, came up short with total of 15 made free throws and 30 rebounds.
Air Force managed to get 14 assists while the Spartans had 10, but the Spartans got 18 turnovers with Air Force 14.
Leading the Falcons was freshman Kaelin Immel with 21 points. Immel also had the most free throws (9-12) on the court.
“The outcome and the loss speaks for itself,” Ladd said. “It could have gone better, but I guess I’m just gonna have myself and teammates do better for the tournament.”
Tourament play for the Spartans begins March 5 against New Mexico in Las Vegas at 7 p.m.
