Box Score
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Unable to keep up with San Jose State's hot hand from three, the San Francisco women's basketball team fell to the Spartans 98-79 at The Event Center Wednesday night.
The Dons (1-3) were led by
Jamie Katuna's near-career high, as she finished with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting. After hitting all three of her free throw attempts, the junior from Longmont, Colo., remains perfect on the season (8-of-8) from the line. She came one point shy of tying a career benchmark of 21, set against BYU on Feb. 16, 2012.
Sophomore
Zhané Dikes posted a season-high 16 points and freshman
Claudia Price went off her her first career double-double for the Green and Gold with a 10-point, 12-rebound outing.
Taj Winston's 12 points rounded out the double-figure scoring efforts for USF.
The Dons found themselves in the lead early after a
Rachel Howard three put USF up 7-6 less than three minutes into the game. An uncontested layup by a driving
Paige Spietz upped the margin to 10-6 with 16:10 remaining in the first half and proved to be USF's largest of the night. The Spartans went on a 26-4 run to regain the lead, which they never relinquished. San Jose State's stretch spanned nearly nine minutes and included six 3-pointers from four different players.
By the halftime break, the score was 50-30 in favor of the Spartans, with Ta'Rea Cunnigan's 19 first-half points leading the charge. San Jose State was 9-of-23 from long-range and shooting 40 percent from the field at the game's midpoint, compared to USF's 29.3 percent clip in the period.
The second half saw the Spartans continue to maintain a 20-point lead as the score was 70-50 with 11:51 to play. The Dons' offense awoke to go on a 15-5 run to slice the San Jose State lead down to 10 points with 8:03 to play. In the span, Katuna earned eight of USF's points and took a charge, with Price, Dikes and
Taylor Proctor all chipping in on offense. The Dons pulled down eight rebounds in the four-minutes of game time to go along with hitting 8-of-9 from the line in the span.
The 10-point difference proved to be as low as the Dons could get the margin, as San Jose State went on to post the 98-79 win to move to 4-1 on the season.
Rebecca Woodberry, who took 13 shots from beyond the arc and connected on five, paced the game's scoring with 29 points. Cunnigan, the current Mountain West Player of the Week, finished with 28 points and Jasmine Smith posted a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Spartans. All told, San Jose State was 13-of-36 from long distance.
The Dons' planned to focus on ball security and rebounding after faltering against Long Beach State in double overtime. USF won the battle of the boards 52-47 and held San Jose State to just 11 offensive rebounds. After a season-high 28 turnovers against the 49ers, USF cut its errors down to 14 in against the Spartans. But USF's 32.9 percent shooting for the game wasn't enough to keep pace with the potent San Jose State offense, who is now averaging nearly 92 points per contest.
USF has over a week to rest and regroup before its next test, a trip to San Luis Obispo, Calif., to play in the Cal Poly Holiday Classic. The Dons face UC Davis Nov. 29 at 5 p.m., before meeting the hosts from Cal Poly at 7 p.m. on Nov. 30.
