SEASIDE, Calif.---- Cal State Monterey Bay held the SF State Gators scoreless in the first seven minutes of the second half to key the Otters' 49-41 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) home victory over the visiting Gators. Erika Ward paced the Otters (4-0, 1-0 CCAA) with 11 points whileDominique Hunter (San Francisco, California, Gateway)lead the Gators with 12 points and 9 rebounds.

“As a young team, we have to be able to play 40 minutes of consistent basketball,” said SF State head coach Joaquin Wallace. “However, we have to take the positives from the game and learn from our mistakes.”

The Gators (0-3, 0-1 CCAA) outscored their hosts 13-7 in the first five minutes of the game with back to back jumpers by Candyce Matthews (Corona, California, ML King HS) capping the run for SF State. The visitors held the Otters to just 34% shooting from the field in the first half and shot 44% themselves keyed by Hunter and Matthews who shot a combined 7 of 11.

Cal State Monterey Bay took the lead 16-13 on a lay-up by Ward with a little over 10 minute to go in the stanza, but the Gators came back and retook the led 21-20 with 5:02 to go in the half on a lay-up by Hunter. SF State increased its lead to 28-23 on a free throw by Erica Greer (Pomona, California, Diamond Ranch HS) and took a 28-24 lead into the locker room.

The Otters came out strong in the second stanza scoring the first ten points of the half to take a 34-28 lead in the first six minutes. Hunter's lay-up at the 12:19 ended the Gators' scoring drought and stopped the run by their hosts.

In the next four minutes, the Gators outscored Cal State Monterey Bay 8-2 to take a 38-36 lead on a Nicole Hicks' jumper. Julie Heurung's lay-up with 6:15 gave the Otters back the lead at 39-38, a lead they would not relinquish.

Hunter's made free throw cut the Otter lead to 40-39 with 3:32 left on the clock, but the Otters outscored their visitors 9-2 in the final minutes to hang on to the conference home victory. They held the Gators without a basket in the final 8 minutes to key their win.

The Otters held SF State to just 30% shooting from the field including 14% in the second half and also forced 21 turnovers by their opponents.

Besides Hunter's 12 points, Erica Greer had a season high 11 points and Candyce Matthews also chipped in a season high 10 points for the Gators.

SF State will be off until December 3, when the Gators have their home opener at 5:30pm against conference and Bay Area rival Cal State East Bay.

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