CHICO, Calif. – A late second-half surge by the San Francisco State women's basketball team was not enough on Saturday as the Gators fell to host Chico State 66-64.
Courtenay Brown dropped 23 points, one shy of tying her season-high, while
Jhaina Stephens pulled in ten rebounds. The Gators shot 44 percent (21-of-48) from the field while holding the Wildcats to just 39 percent (24-of-61), however Chico State had 26 points from the bench which proved to be the difference maker.
Tyiteyana Jefferson received a nice inside dish from Stephens to get SF State (3-5/1-4 CCAA) on the board early on. Meanwhile the Wildcats stormed out to a 7-2 lead with just over four to go in the first quarter, capped off by a Jo Paine layup. Chico State (4-4/3-2 CCAA) quickly pushed their lead to 11-2 before
Kaleigh Pugh drained a pair of free throws.
Amani Alexander hit a jumper just before the end of the quarter and then sunk two from the charity stripe to make it 15-8. However, back-to-back layups by McKena Barker and Shay Stark put the hosts up 19-8 after one.
Erika Nilsen drove to the hoop and hit a nice layup off a dish from
Rachel Iozzia to start off the second quarter. The hosts continued to roll and take a 25-12 lead at the seven-minute mark before Brown pulled up for a three at the top of the key to bring the score to 25-15. Vanessa Holland pushed the Wildcat advantage but
Erika Nilsen drained a three from the left side to keep the Gators within striking distance. Iozzia next joined the triple party as she hit one to make it a 33-23 contest with just over two minutes to go in the half. Chico State answered Stephens' points with a 5-0 run to close out the half and carried a 38-26 lead into the locker room.
The hosts quickly pushed their lead to 42-62 early on in the second half behind Kayla Taylor's bucket and Whitney Branham's layup. Brown sunk one from beyond the arc with just over six to go in the third quarter to make it a 13-point contest, and continued to roll with a layup and another three to make the score 44-36 with 3:03 to go in the period. Jefferson then hit a pair from the charity stripe before Chico State stopped the bleeding with their two from the free throw line. Brown continued her hot hand as she hit another three with just over a minute to go for her fourth triple of the contest.
Brown opened up the fourth with a jumper and Iozzia followed with a bucket of her own to make it 50-47. Brown later drained a three to put the Gators up two, but Barker hit a jumper and converted the and-one to put the Wildcats back up by one. With 5:50 left in the quarter, Brown hit both free throws and Jefferson followed with a jumper the next possession, giving SF State a three-point lead. The battle continued with Iozzia draining a three to put the Gators up by two, but Holland answered with a triple of her own to give the Wildcats a one-point advantage with 3:14 left. Branham knotted the score at 62-all with two free throws with under a minute to play. Brown knocked down another pair of free throws down the stretch, but a Barker layup tied things yet again and Stark later stole the ball in the Gator offensive zone and hit the game-winning layup with eleven seconds left to seal the victory, 66-64.
Up Next
The Gators continue the road trip against Cal State Monterey Bay on Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. Live stats and video for the contest will be provided by the Otters. Be sure to follow
@sfstate_wbb for in-game updates.
