By Alex Valle — Content Editor
Underrated and underappreciated.
San Jose State women’s basketball closed out their historic season after being defeated by Fresno State in the semifinals of the Mountian West Women’s Basketball Championship 94-68.
Although the Spartans couldn’t overcome the No. 1 seed, this season was far from a disappointment.
Prior to the start of the season, SJSU was projected to finish last in the conference in the preseason poll conducted by the Mountain West.
From the get-go, the Spartans were ready to prove everyone wrong.
They did.
SJSU had the biggest turnaround in the nation as they increased their win total from six in 2019 to 18 in 2020.
“They worked,” head coach Jamie Craighead said. “We came back last season and said, we’re not going to have a season like we had the previous two years.”
The Spartans entered the Mountain West Women’s Basketball Championship as the No. 4 seed, tying the highest seeding in program history.
Unlike a lot of college teams, the success of this squad is not because of one player or just the head coach, but the collective effort of everyone in this program.
The Spartans’ well-balanced offense and underrated defense created problems for almost every team they faced.
The squad was mostly led by the guard-forward tandem of sophomore Ayzhiana Basallo and junior Tyra Whitehead.
Basallo led the Mountain West in scoring with 18.5 points per game. She was named the Mountain West Newcomer of the Year as she added 4.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Down low, Whitehead was a dominant force to be reckoned with. She averaged a double-double on the season with 13.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.
Whitehead earned All-Conference Honorable Mention for her two-way play. She was top-10 in the nation in rebounding and was the only Mountain West player to rank in the top-5 for both steals and blocks.
With defensive numbers like these, it is hard to say that Whitehead was not snubbed for the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year.
However, these two Spartans weren’t the only contributing factors.
The supporting cast comprised of Raziya Potter, Fieme’a Hafoka, Megan Anderson, Danae Marquez, Cyndi Lewis and Courtesy Clark consistently executed their roles all year.
“I felt like we were a little bit older, mature, more experienced,” said Craighead. “They played so hard all season. Our defense got better. We could score.”
Potter has grown as a two-way player and can score from anywhere on the court.
“[Megan Anderson] is probably the best shooter I have ever coached,” Craighead said about the junior guard.
The lights-out shooter will look to continue to improve her three-point shooting percentage as she increased her efficiency from 38 percent in 2019 to 40 percent in 2020.
Marquez — who Craighead calls SJSU’s “sixth starter” — has been credited as the heart and soul of the Spartan team and leaves it all on the floor every night.
Luckily for SJSU, the list of departures from this team is short. Hafoka and Alexis Harris are the two players that will be moving on to a new endeavor.
Lewis and Clark were huge sparks off the bench this year and could see bigger roles with the Spartans next year.
“I’m super proud of my team,” said Craighead. “This group, for the most part, will be coming back. I’m excited to see what they can do in the future.”
SJSU will be heading into the 2021 season with the same aspirations to win the conference championship.
For the first time in many, many years, the Spartans will have expectations placed on them.
“I’m proud of everything we accomplished but this team ain’t done yet,” Hafoka said. “And I know they’re going to come even harder.”
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