By Kellen Concentine — Reporter
It’s a wrap.
San Jose State women’s basketball team will have its first season above .500 since 2005.
A lot of their recent success can be credited to sophomore guard Ayzhiana Basallo.
Basallo leads the Mountain West in scoring with 19 points per game. She is third in assists, recording 4.8 per game. She also won back-to-back Mountain West Player of the Week awards in November.
“Yeah I’m a scorer and that’s what I’m known for,” said Basallo. “But I just want to be a complete basketball player.”
This is the first season that Basallo has played at SJSU. Before redshirting in 2018, she played at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and won the Big West Conference’s Sixth Player of the Year award. She averaged 7.6 points off the bench.
This season, she has been named a Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Semifinalist. The award recognizes the nation’s best mid-major player, the first award of its kind in women’s collegiate basketball.
“Shana [Basallo] works on her game as hard as anyone in mid-major college basketball,” said head coach Jamie Craighead. “Her hard work is paying off and Spartans everywhere should be proud of this young student-athlete who represents our program and San Jose State University.”
Basallo isn’t the only new Spartan to see immediate success. Junior forward Tyra Whitehead is also in her first season with the Spartans and has averaged a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double all year.
“I think the team has opened arms for both of us and let us in,” Whitehead said.
Basallo and Whitehead are a dynamic duo on and off the court. The two players go to the gym before and after games to get in shots.
“I love having Ty around, she helps me a lot,” Basallo said. “She’s kind of like a light to me, she’s always shining.”
Treating her team like family is something Basallo has done since her Cal Poly days. However, playing in San Jose, just an hour from her hometown of San Francisco allows her family to come see her play.
Having her family watch her is something that motivates Basallo to work harder every day. Being closer to home was a factor in her decision to transfer to SJSU.
“They sacrifice a lot for me to do what I love,” Basallo said. “So I feel it’s only right for me to be able to play in front of them. That’s why I wanted to come home.”
Basallo goes on the court and dominates every night in front of her loved ones. Offensively she cannot be stopped.
The 2020 Mountain West Women’s Basketball Championship begins March 1 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. SJSU has clinched a first-round bye.
It will be the biggest week of Basallo’s young career, and she is ready for the challenge.
Follow Kellen on Twitter @KC_Journalism
