By Taylor Lupetti:
For the second time in less than a month, the Spartans beat their rival San Diego State — this time on the Aztecs’ home floor.
SJSU went on an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter, taking its first lead since the first quarter with just eight minutes to go.
Tonight, the Spartans secured another win against the Aztecs and finished the game 99-90, coming up from being down a large part of the first three quarters. The last time SJSU (8-15, 5-6 in MW) faced SDSU (8-14, 3-8 in MW) was on Jan.11. The Spartans won 81-80 in overtime on a shot from Dezz Ramos in the last seconds of the extra frame.
In an exciting fourth quarter, the Spartans were able to come up with 29 points giving them the lead they needed over the Aztecs who only scored 17.
“We got to figure out a way to play better defense,” said Aztecs’ head coach Stacie Terry in a post-game interview. “I thought we had some miscues and some lack of communication and those mistakes just can’t be made in February.”
The loss was the sixth-straight for the Aztecs and as for the Spartans, they avoided back-to-back losses.
After an uncharacteristic game last time out, Dezz Ramos was back. At the end of the first half, Ramos already had 14 points and five assists. She finished the game with 27 points and 12 assists. Myzhanique Ladd was a force in the game as well scoring all 17 of her points in the second half. Another high scorer Paris Baird also notched a double double recording 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Towards the end of the fourth quarter, the scoreboard at Viejas Arena read 96-86 as opposed to the 95-86 being broadcasted, bringing up the question of whether or not Ramos had scored a three pointer right before she was fouled. The score was eventually settled to be 95-89 as Ramos’ shot was a two pointer. The Spartans tacked on four more points after.
Next up, the Spartans are scheduled to face UNLV on Saturday Feb.11 inside The Event Center at 2 p.m.