By Lindsey Boyd (@lindsboyd3 ):
One of the top women’s basketball teams in the Mountain West Conference came to town, but that didn’t stop San Jose State from leading the entire game — except for the last seconds that mattered.
The Spartans (6-19, 3-11 MW) shot lights out against the Wyoming Cowgirls (18-7, 11-3 MW) at 49 percent, but their 55-47 lead took a turn for the worse after sophomore guard Taylor Turney twisted her ankle with six minutes left in the fourth.
The Cowgirls took advantage of the injury, closing out the game on a 19-9 run and capped it off with a Marta Gomez game-winning basket with .07 seconds left for the 66-64 win.
“Obviously a tough way to lose a basketball game when you are ahead 39 minutes of the game,” said head coach Jamie Craighead. “It really hurt us when Taylor went down.”
Senior guard Myzhanique Ladd, who put up a game-high 26 points on 12-20 field goals and grabbed five rebounds, helped SJSU keep a 64-63 advantage following three consecutive layups.
A foul on Lewis with 20 seconds remaining changed the narrative, however. Wyoming tied it up 64-64 on a free throw from forward Bailee Cotton.
The Spartans had a chance to win the game with 0.7 seconds. Fieme’a Hafoka quickly lobbed the ball down low to Lewis who made the basket. Upon replay, however, the referees ruled the shot was no good. The ball was still in Lewis’s hands as the buzzer went off.
“She didn’t squeeze it to the rim so then when we throw the lob, she ends up away from it and has to catch it instead of just tipping it in,” Craighead said.
SJSU shot over 57 percent in the first half and led by as many as 14 points.
Turney protected the ball up top for most of the game, while freshman Cydni Lewis, sophomore Fieme’a Hafoka and freshman Mikaylah Wilson found lanes of their own inside to combine for 27 points.
The loss marks the Spartans’ eighth in a row. They look to bounce back Feb. 21 against Nevada at 7 p.m. in the Event Center.