SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco State women's basketball team was unable to build on a four-point lead in the first half on Friday, falling to Chico State, 67-46, in the 2009-10 California Collegiate Athletic Association opener for both teams at the Main Gymnasium.
The Wildcats (4-0, 1-0 CCAA) took advantage of 33 Gator turnovers, outscoring SF State (3-4, 0-1 CCAA) by a 31-7 margin off those miscues, while limiting the host school to just three field goals through the first 10-and-a-half minutes of the second period to pull away for the victory.
“We just turned the ball over too much,” said Gator head coach Joaquin Wallace. “It's virtually impossible to win a game when you have 33 turnovers against a team of Chico State's quality. That's been a problem for us all season long. We've been fortunate to win games, but against good teams, you can't be turning the ball over like we did tonight.”
Individually, SF State was led by junior
Dominique Hunter (San Francisco, Calif., Gateway), whose game-high 13 points was also a season best, while senior
Donisha Tate (Oakland, Calif., Oakland, Las Positas College) pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Fellow classmate
Kalia Williams (Los Angeles, Calif., Saint Monica, San Jose State) also reached double-figures in scoring with 10 points to go along with seven rebounds, while freshman
Carly Cator (Lakewood, Colo., Lakewood) notched season bests of six points and six rebounds.
The Wildcats were paced by Natasha Smith's 11 points and game-high five assists, while Annelise Miller swiped a game-best five steals.
The Gators shot just 31.9 percent from the field on 15-of-47 field goal attempts and were scoreless on five tries from beyond the 3-point arc, while Chico State connected on just 23 of its 70 shots (32.9 percent), including a 5-for-17 clip on treys. The Wildcats maintained a slim 48-46 edge in rebounding, but a finished with sizable 21-14 advantage on the offensive glass.
SF State struggled out of the gate, falling behind by an 8-0 count after a 3-point basket by Chico State's Melissa Richardson at the 16:56 mark of the first half. The Gators slowly clawed their way back into contention, eventually tying the game at 9-9 on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Hunter with 13:28 remaining. Moments later, a layup by Quanisha Turner punctuated a 7-0 Wildcat run, forcing SF State to rally once again. The Gators responded to the challenge, taking the lead for the first time in the contest at 19-17 after Williams' layyup with 6:29 left capped a 10-1 spurt.
The two sides slugged it out for the remainder of the period as the lead exchanged hands on four occasions. After a trey by Synchro Bull put the visitors up 22-20 at the 5:08 mark, SF State answered with six straight points on two free throws and a layup by Hunter, while Williams followed with a layup of her own to give the Gators their largest cushion of the night at 26-22 with 2:51 left before the break. Unfortunately, SF State was unable to extend the margin as the Wildcats closed with a rush, scoring the final eight points of the half to take a 30-26 lead into the locker room.
The Gators opened the second half with a layup by Tate to cut the deficit to 30-28, but could not gain the upper hand as a 3-pointer by Smith on Chico State's next possession ignited 7-0 run to put the Wildcats in front 37-28. A 3-point play by Hunter brought SF State to within 37-31 at the 16:05 mark, but Turner answered with a jumper and a layup to put Chico State in control at 41-31 with 13:36 remaining. After Williams added a free throw to make the score 41-32, the Gators were never able to narrow the gap under 10 points the rest of the way as the Wildcats added foul shots by Miller and Molly Collins to restore a double-digit advantage they would not relinquish.
SF State returns to the court on Saturday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off against Cal State Stanislaus in the Main Gym.
Box Score
