SAN FRANCISCO – Senior Donisha Tate (Oakland, Calif., Oakland HS, Las Positas College) poured in a career-high 19 points on Saturday, leading the San Francisco State women's basketball team to a big 63-46 victory over Cal State San Bernardino in a California Collegiate Athletic Association clash at the Main Gymnasium. Tate also excelled on the glass, pulling down a game-best 18 rebounds, including 14 on the defensive side for her fourth consecutive double-double and seventh on the year.
The Gators raced to a 28-14 halftime lead and never looked back, improving to 8-11 overall and 4-7 in conference play, while the Coyotes slip to 10-6 on the season and 6-5 in the CCAA.
In addition, to Tate's heroics, SF State received a season-high 12 points from senior Jessica Hout-Freeman (Fremont, Calif., Washington HS), while freshman Nicole Hicks (Santa Clarita, Calif., Saugus HS) added eight points off the bench, including a 6-for-6 performance from the free-throw line.
CSUSB was paced by Krystal Urzua, who finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and three steals, while Morgan Pryor tallied nine points in a losing effort.
“Tonight, we played possibly our best 40 minutes of basketball after an extremely physical game on Friday against Cal Poly Pomona,” said Gator head coach Joaquin Wallace. “San Bernardino is a quality team, and therefore, it is extremely gratifying to win against them.
“Donisha Tate's last two games have been outstanding as she is playing inspired basketball right now, along with Jessica Hout-Freeman. We will be counting on both of them to continue their success in the second half of the (conference) season.”
SF State, which trailed just once in the contest, took the lead for good at 8-7 on a layup by Tate with 13:12 left in the first half. The Coyotes kept things close for the next seven-plus minutes, pulling to within 16-14 after a Morgan Pryor layup at the 5:31 mark. However, the Gators held CSUSB scoreless for the remainder of the period, building a 28-14 advantage by intermission as two foul shots by Hicks capped a 12-0 run.
CSUSB connected on just 6 of 31 field goal attempts (19.4 percent) in the first half, while SF State shot 10-22 (45.5 percent) from the floor.
The Gators switched on the afterburners in the second half, extending their lead to 47-20 by the 10:34 mark after a Hout-Freeman layup. SF State benefited from cold Coyote shooting during that stretch as the visitors hit just two of their first 11 shots from the field in the period.
CSUSB managed to narrow the gap to 15 at 59-44 after a layup by Urzua with 1:35 to go; however, the rally proved too little too late.
As a team, the Gators finished with a 30-16 advantage on points in the paint and maintained a 28-19 edge in defensive rebounds. Meanwhile, the Coyotes were just 5-for-13 from the charity stripe, compared to SF State's 16-for-22 clip.
The Gators commence the second half of their conference schedule next weekend when they travel to Cal State Stanislaus (Jan. 29) and Chico State (Jan. 30) on consecutive nights. Starting time for both games is set for 5:30 p.m.
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