San Jose State women stun top-seeded CSU at MW tourney

LAS VEGAS -- Senior guard Gritt Ryder was tearing up.

Coach Ryun Williams looked like he was still in shock.

"This is not what we expected," forward Ellen Nystrom said.

It clearly wasn't.

A season's worth of winning that produced a second straight Mountain West regular-season title couldn't make up for one bad game Tuesday, a 64-55 loss to eighth-seeded San Jose State in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.

So instead of moving on and playing for the right to represent the MW in the NCAA tournament, the Rams (23-7) were headed back home to await the announcement of the Women's National Invitation Tournament pairings late Monday night.

It was a tough pill to swallow. Tougher even than a loss to Fresno State in the championship game of last year's tournament that also kept the Rams from advancing to the NCAA tournament.

"The one thing missing on this team's resume was that NCAA tournament," Williams said. "That's why this group is, and rightly so, disappointed.

"… You win the league title two years in a row, that's a 12-week grind. You win it two years in a row, and you don't get to represent your league.

"… I feel for our kids."

It was one bad game, at the wrong time, in the wrong place.

The Rams shot a season-low 18 percent in the first half, missing 13 of 15 shots from 8 feet or closer to the basket, and just 29 percent for the game. They were out-rebounded 50-45 by the Spartans (15-16). They never led against a team they had defeated by 18 points Jan. 17 at Moby Arena and by nine Feb. 25 in San Jose, California.

"Not a good day to have a bad day," Williams said. "… I'm proud of my basketball team. This has been a good group. This one game will not define them."

The Spartans, coach Jamie Craighead said, learned a thing or two about stopping the Rams in those two earlier games. They learned to get a hand in the face of the Rams' 3-point shooters and not to get in too close against players who like to drive for layups. They abandoned their usual help principles, Craighead said, to make sure no one could put up an uncontested shot.

CSU's Jamie Patrick made just 2 of 11 shots from the floor, AJ Newton was 3 for 16, Gritt Ryder was 4 for 12 and Alana Arias 1 for 7.

Nystrom led the Rams with 13 points on 3-for-8 shooting from the floor and pulled down a tournament-record 20 rebounds. It wasn't enough.

Aniya Baker made 4 of 8 shots from 3-point range and led the Spartans with 18 points. Ta'Rae Cunnigan hit 3 of 6 from beyond the arc and scored 17, and Rebecca Woodberry had 11 points and 12 rebounds for San Jose State.

CSU trailed 25-18 at halftime, made a brief run early in the second half to close within two points twice and three points on two other occasions. They made 7 of 19 shots from 3-point range in the second half to match the Spartans' 10 3-pointers for the game. But they never could get out in front

"Today, we weren't the best team," Williams said. "But the past two years, we've been the best team in our league. That's just how March Madness is set up."

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.