LA JOLLA, Calif.  – The San Francisco State women's basketball team narrowly missed out on a huge upset Friday night, dropping a tough 51-47 decision to 13^th-ranked UC San Diego at RIMAC Arena in La Jolla, Calif. Trailing by 11 points at intermission, the Gators put together strong second-half surge, outscoring the Tritons by a 32-25 count, but came up just short. 

 

With the loss, SF State slips to 12-13 on the year and 6-12 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, while UCSD improves to 23-3 overall and 16-1 in league play.

 

 

The SF State defense put together another exceptional performance as the Tritons hit just 39.1 percent of their field-goal attempts on 18-of-46 shooting. However, the Gators could not capitalize on the offensive end either, connecting on 19 of 52 shots from the field (36.5 percent), including a 6-for-21 clip (28.6 percent) in the first half. In addition, SF State got to the free-throw line just 11 times on the evening, converting seven foul shots, while UCSD was 14-of-22 from the charity stripe.

 

 The two sides slugged it out in a low-scoring first half, with SF State enjoying its largest lead of the evening at 13-11 following Ashlee Austin-Bean's (Los Angeles, California, Bishop Montgomery) jumper and a free throw by Krystle Mays (Long Beach, California, Chatsworth) at the 8:46 mark.  However, consecutive layups by Michelle Osier and Alexis Gaskin ignited a 15-2 Triton run, putting the host team up by a 26-15 margin heading into intermission.

 

UCSD increased its advantage to 32-15 after another Gaskin bucket with 16:01 remaining in the contest. However, the Gators demonstrated their resiliency over the next seven-and-a-half minutes, whittling the deficit to single digits at 39-32 following an old-fashioned 3-point play by Jessica Hout-Freeman (Fremont, California, Washington) with 7:26 left on the clock.

 

SF State kept the home team in its sight over the next five minutes, narrowing the gap to four points on three different occasions. A layup by Desiree Butler (Lancaster, California, Lancaster, Pasadena City College) brought the visitors to within 45-41 at the 2:18 mark, but the Gators could not come up with a stop on the ensuing possession as Chelsea Carlisle converted a basket to give the Tritons a six-point advantage at 47-41 with 1:54 remaining. 

 

SF State misfired on its next three field-goal attempts, but remained in contention after UCSD twice missed the front end of 1-and-1 opportunities. Dominique Hunter 's (San Francisco, California, Gateway)bucket with 28 seconds left broke the Gator scoring drought, cutting the deficit to 47-43. However, Leilani Martin hit a pair of foul shots at the other end to restore the Tritons' six-point cushion at 49-43.

 

SF State then made things interesting as a Butler layup and a ZaLisha Oliver (Sacramento, California, Luther Burbank) jumper sandwiched around a UCSD turnover made the score 49-47 with seven ticks on the clock. However, two Carlisle foul shots at the other end provided the final outcome, saddling the Gators with the hard-luck loss.

 

Hunter, who matched a career-high with five blocks, scored 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting to tie Hout-Freeman for the team high. Meanwhile UCSD had three players in double figures, led by Osier, who finished with a game-best 15 points, 13 rebounds and four steals. 

 

SF State wraps up its regular-season slate next week with a pair of home games in the Main Gymnasium. The Gators will square off against Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday, Feb. 26, before tangling with CSU San Bernardino on Friday, Feb. 27. Both contests are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. SF State currently occupies eighth place in the CCAA standings, a half game ahead of Sonoma State and 1 ½ games behind CSU Stanislaus and CSUSB, which are in sixth.

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