By Chris Estrada — Staff Writer
San Jose State women’s basketball began its season Tuesday night by facing San Francisco State in the Event Center. The Division II Gators came out on top and beat the Spartans 73-66.
SJSU’s loss marked the first to a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) school since 1983. The team’s record fell to 0-1, while this was just an exhibition match for SFSU.
The key stat of the game — the Spartans had 30 turnovers with 31 fouls.
Sophomores Megan Anderson and Danae Marquez scored the first points of the season with back-to-back three-pointers to jump out to a 6-0 lead.
The Spartans expanded their lead to 11-2 and looked as if they were going to control the game.
Through the first 10 minutes, SJSU led 19-13. It went 6-for-19 from the field with five of those shots coming from behind the arc.
Once the second quarter began, the Spartans looked like a different team. They turned over the ball 13 times and only were 3-of-12 from the field.
“Nothing was going in, we couldn’t even make a layup,” head coach Jamie Craighead said. “Anything that could go wrong went wrong.”
By halftime, SFSU had a 34-30 lead due to the Spartan defense falling apart and lack of shots finding the bucket. SJSU had five turnovers before freshman Nefer Leon scored the first points of the second quarter.
The turnovers and eight fouls in the quarter allowed the Gators to crawl back into the game. The Gators were 8-for-17 on the field and put up 21 points in the quarter.
SJSU got back into the game coming out of halftime – however, the turnovers cost them plays again.
The Spartans outscored the Gators 17-16 in the third quarter, but gave up many opportunities with their 10 turnovers and eight fouls.
At one point, SJSU regained the lead 47-46 but that was the last time SJSU was out in front.
Taimane Lesa-Hardee was the leading scorer for the Gators, putting up 20 points while going 7-12 on the floor. Cydni Lewis had 14 points for the Spartans.
A factor in the game happened to be rebounds. The Gators had 51 to the Spartans 43.
5-foot-5 point guard Marquez lead the Spartans in the rebounding category with seven and was second in points with 11.
“She was trying really hard to get her team out of their funk, but we just couldn’t,” Craighead said. “As a point guard, you need leadership. I’ve seen her progress in the last two weeks and I know she is going to be a big part in what we do this season.”
With the loss SJSU falls to 0-1 on the season with many things to work on for its next game.
“I didn’t really see a team that I recognize tonight,” Craighead said. “We have to learn from this but hopefully the team that shows up for practice tomorrow is the team I am used to seeing.”
San Jose State will now head to San Francisco and seek its first win of the season in a matchup with the University of San Francisco Friday night.
Follow Chris on Twitter @estradadotc