‘Now they know’: Spartans finish on a high note
LAS VEGAS — When the San Jose State women's basketball team boarded its bus out of Thomas & Mack Center, the history of the moment hadn't sunk in.
The Spartans became the first No. 10 seed to win a Mountain West tournament game with its 62-51 upset of Air Force in the first round Sunday. The 10th seed had been 0-9 against No. 7 seeds since the current format debuted in 2014.
First-year head coach April Phillips' group had won just six games all season, but this one carried added significance.
“Now they know that this is feasible,” she said. “All year long, they hear their coach telling them to hang on, we were getting close, but didn't really see it. Then they saw something tangible that comes from that work, and they made history.”
The Spartans finished the season 6-25. Phillips knew she would endure some hardship in rebuilding a program that has had just one winning season since 2004-05. The victory over Air Force provided a spark of hope.
“There was something we could remember and build on,” she said. “You have to understand that feeling to win and desire it again. I'm glad we got that feeling.”
The Spartans had won three in a row before falling 72-57 to No. 2 seed Wyoming, which did not trail in the quarterfinal.
“We didn't have the wins and losses the way I would desire,” Phillips said. “But we established an identity as a tough team. That paid off (in the Mountain West tournament) because we stuck to it. It's easy to see winning only six games and (giving) up, but we never did.”
Phillips expects all of her young roster to return aside from grad student Aarion Nichols. Among that group are Jada Holland, who averaged 11.4 points per game and finished the season on a 27game steal streak, and Marisa Jones-Davis, a transfer from Washington who averaged 10.8 points per game.
Freshman Sabrina Ma (St. Ignatius) averaged nine points and scored at least 20 five times, with her career-high 24 points coming against Utah State in the regular-season finale — to the delight of Phillips and giving the Spartans a blueprint for what next season might hold.
“That kid just competes,” Phillips said. “I'm really proud of her. She was our heartbeat down the stretch.”
The Spartans were competitive in 2019-20, finishing 19-12 before a second-round Mountain West tournament exit. They were picked to finish second in the conference the next season, before all but four games were canceled amid pandemic restrictions in Santa Clara County.
San Jose State fired head coach Jamie Craighead Turner at the end of the 2021-22 season, her ninth with the program.
Phillips has been given a tough assignment, but she's done it before, helping lead Arizona to the biggest win improvement in program history in 2018-19 as an assistant coach.
Chemistry next season will be a plus; the nearly entirely new roster Phillips had this season took time to adjust.
“Not many of them had real Division I experience,” she said. “This season was getting on-court experience, and it's going to go a really long way for us as we add some other pieces.”