Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
San Jose State (DH)
Wildcats top Spartans in thriller
12/4/2011 4:21:00 AM | Women's Basketball
OGDEN, Utah - The Wildcats found their mark.
Senior center Mikell Woodfield scored a put-back basket with 2.3 seconds remaining and then stole the inbounds pass, lifting the Weber State University women's basketball team to a dramatic 69-67 victory over San Jose State on Saturday evening at the Dee Events Center.
Weber State trailed by 18 in the first half, but rallied in the second half behind junior guard Megan Patterson, who drained 15 second half points and finished the night with a season-high 20.
Sophomore guard Jordan Pfau finished the night with a career-high 15 points, while junior forward Amanda Hughes knocked down 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Junior guard Kia Rhodes also had a strong second half, finishing the night with a Weber State career high six assists in 23 minutes off the bench.
"We gave more heart in the second half, that was the biggest difference," Rhodes said. "It was really important for us to come out hard to start the second half. They were putting some pressure on us in the first half, but it wasn't really that tight. We just needed to show some more poise.
"We found our spark today. I definitely think this is something we can build off of."
Trailing by 14 points, 53-39, with 13:17 to play, Weber State ripped off an 18-2 surge to take its first second-half lead this season. The surge was fueled by three 3-pointers from Patterson, who led the Big Sky Conference in 3-pointers a season ago.
"I told the girls at halftime that we just needed to lay it on the line out there and the score would take care of itself," said Weber State coach Bethann Ord, who picked up her first career win with the Wildcats. "We did that. We just kind of chipped away at it and got the lead."
Weber State (1-7) kept its foot on the gas, pushing the lead out to six on a pair of Patterson free throws with 7:14 remaining, but San Jose State didn't go down quietly as it rallied to tie the game at 67-67 with 69 seconds to play.
With five seconds left, Rhodes drove to the basket, but missed and Woodfield snagged the rebound and softly tipped it home for the winning basket.
The Spartans hit 11-of-12 at the free throw line and held a commanding 29-14 advantage on the boards in the first half en route to building up an 18-point advantage. San Jose State led 41-25 at halftime.
After getting badly outrebounding in the first half, WSU outrebounded SJSU 26-17 in the second half, including 13 offensive rebounds.
"One of our keys before the game was to win the battle on the boards," Ord said. "We did that during the second half and that was very important."
Weber State will return to action on Thursday when it travels to face in-state rival Utah Valley at the UCCU Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
