SAN FRANCISCO - Despite a strong start, the San Francisco State women's basketball team dropped its first California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) contest of the season, falling to the visiting Cal Poly Pomona Broncos, 94-64, on Thursday night.
- Isabella Lamonea scored in double-digits for the second-straight time, dropping 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from deep while adding five rebounds. Jhaina Stephens narrowly missed a double-double with 13 points and nine boards and had two steals.
- Taimane Lesa-Hardee added 11 points, giving SF State at least three players in double-digits for the third time this year.
- Taisia Fleming added seven bounds and led the Gators with four assists, and Toni Edwards added five points.
- The Broncos (4-1/1-1 CCAA) shot 55 percent (37-of-67) from the field, the highest by a Gator (2-5/1-1 CCAA) opponent this season.
- The Gators shot 39 percent (9-of-23) from deep, the second highest mark this year.
Lesa-Hardee grabbed a defensive board and went the other way with fast-break layup to put SF State up 10-6, and later added a corner three that widened the lead to 13-9. Former Gator Lauren Catching cut it to two with a jumper midway through the first. Lamonea grabbed an offensive rebound and dropped in the layup to put the Gators back up by four, but the Broncos answered with back-to-back three pointers as part of a 9-0 run to go up 25-17, and ended the first with a 5-0 streak to go up 11, 30-19.
Pomona's Crystal Malveaux began the second with a layup to widen the advantage. Lesa-Hardeee added another triple from the right side off a nice pass from Fleming to make it 37-24 with 5:26 left in the half. Stephens knocked down a mid-range jumper with just over three left, but Pomona pushed their lead to 20 on Monica Todd's bucket with 1:42 remaining as part of a 9-2 run. Stephens, who ranks t-12th in the nation in free-throw percentage, hit both from the charity stripe in the closing minute to cut it to 46-28, but Pomona got a three-pointer with eight seconds left to go up 49-28 at the half.
Stephens got a steal and score a minute into the second half, giving her three made field goals in her last four attempts. Lesa-Hardee his a free throw, and Stephens got her seconds steal of the contest and hit the jumper going the other way to cut the visitor lead to 20. Lamonea nailed a three-pointer near the top of the key and after a steal, knocked down another from deep with 3:23 remaining to make it 59-43. The Broncos pushed their lead to 69-43 after the quarter with a 12-0 run, capped off by two free throws by Malveaux.
Stephens ended the streak with a free throw, but the Broncos got consecutive triples from Mylah Andrada and now led 75-44. Lamonea hit her fourth three-pointer of the night at the eight-minute mark, and Madison Corder followed with a layup. The Broncos continued to roll as they went up 82-52 before Megan Cistulli got the defensive board and added a bucket on the other end. Pomona continued their strong offense beyond the arc but Mackenzie Oribello answered with a three-pointer from the left side off an assist from Edwards with under 20 seconds left to make it 94-64.
Courtside season tickets are still available for the 2018-19 season. A full season, which guarantees courtside seating for all twelve of San Francisco State's home conference basketball doubleheaders, is $250 per seat. For more information, visit
sfstategators.com/courtside.
The Golden Gators wrap up the homestead this Saturday at 1 p.m. as they take on Chico State. Live stats and a stream will be provided.
