SAN FRANCISCO –The San Francisco State women's basketball team kicked off its 2010-11 home schedule on a positive note Friday with a 46-38 triumph over Cal State East Bay in a defensive struggle at the Main Gymnasium.
The Gators (1-3, 1-1 California Collegiate Athletic Association) broke through for their first victory of the year after holding the Pioneers (0-3, 0-1 CCAA) scoreless through the first eight minutes and 20 seconds of the first half en route to a commanding 26-5 lead at intermission.
“It was great to get a much-needed win against a very scrappy Cal State East Bay team,” said SF State head coach Joaquin Wallace. “The first half was a defensive textbook for us; however, we have to learn how to finish off games. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult task against UC San Diego.”
Individually, the Gators were led by
Nicole Hicks, who scored a team-high 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting, while
Dominique Hunter added 12 points and 13 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. In addition,
Erica Greer finished with six points on pair of 3-point baskets to go along with four steals and a game-best four assists.
Conversely, the Pioneers received game highs from Claudia Nelson, who finished with 17 points and six steals, while Marlene MacMillan came away with 14 caroms.
Neither side shot the ball particularly well, as SF State connected on 20 of their 55 shots attempts (36.4 percent), while East Bay drained just one of its 23 attempts in the first half and finished with an overall 15-for-58 clip (25.9 percent).
Although the Gators were outrebounded on the offensive end by a 20-14 margin, the Purple and Gold maintained a sizeable 31-21 spread on the defensive glass and owned 6-2 advantage in blocked shots.
SF State opened with a 13-0 run before the Pioneers finally dented the scoreboard on a MacMillan layup at the 11:40 mark of the first half. The Gators subsequently went into a dry spell of their own after
Michaela Booker connected on a triple with 9:13 left before intermission. A span of 4:25 would elapse before the Purple and Gold found the basket again on a
Lauren Varney jumper at the 4:49 mark. However, East Bay failed to capitalize on the SF State drought after missing six attempts from the field and two free throws during that stretch.
Leading 18-2, the Gators then got their inside game working to close the period with an 8-3 rush, featuring consecutive layups by Hunter, Hicks,
Kaylaa Davis and Greer.
Following the break, the Purple and Gold eventually built its largest lead of the night at 37-10, thanks to a Booker tip-in with 11:51 left in the ballgame.
However, the Pioneers would finally awaken from their offensive funk to make a game out of it as a Nelson layup with 44 seconds on the clock capped a 28-9 burst, which trimmed the Gator advantage to 46-38. East Bay was aided by 10 SF State turnovers during that stretch, but time was not on the visitors' side as the host school ran out the remaining precious seconds to preserve the win.
SF State returns to action on Saturday when UC San Diego invades the Main Gym for another CCAA contest beginning at 5:30 p.m.
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