SAN FRANCISCO – Despite a strong third quarter on Friday night, the San Francisco State women's basketball team fell to the visiting third-place Chico State Wildcats, 63-49.
Jhaina Stephens recorded her 11th double-double of the 2017-18 campaign with 19 points and 10 boards.
Kaleigh Pugh dropped 11 and hailed in six rebounds in the start while
Rachel Iozzia had 10 to round out the double-digit Gator scoring.
Amani Alexander finished with nine, and
Erika Nilsen grabbed three rebounds and dished out a pair of assists.
Stephens got the first basket of the evening, however Chico State (15-10/13-8 CCAA) went on a 10-0 run capped off by a Vanessa Holland thee with 6:20 left in the first. SF State (5-19/3-17 CCAA) bounced back in the closing minutes, and Alexander drained a transition three with two seconds left to cap off the 8-0 Gator run and tie things 12-12 after one.
The Wildcats pushed their lead to 17-12 three minutes into the second quarter before Stephens hit a layup to cut it to three. At the midway mark Iozzia hit a deep triple off the inbound from Alexander and bring the Gators to within two once again at 19-17. Chico State held the lead throughout the rest of the period, end ended the half with a pair of free throws and a Whitney Branham layup to carry a 28-21 advantage into halftime.
Pugh began the second half with her second and-one conversion of the night to cut it to four. Stephens hit a pair from the charity stripe to tie it 30-all as part of a 6-0 run midway through the third. Chico State then went on an offensive streak as Kayla Taylor hit a jumper to push the Wildcat lead to eight.
Iozzia hit back-to-back layups to start the fourth as the Gators only trailed by six. A McKena Barker layup with 6:35 left gave Chico State a double-digit advantage at 56-44. With 4:41 left in regulation Iozzia drained her second three-pointer of the night, giving her 53 on the year and tying her fourth all-time in program history. She also sits at 116 assists on the year, tying her for sixth all-time in Gator history.
Up Next
The Gators wrap up the regular season tomorrow as they host Humboldt State at 5:30 p.m. SF State will also honor Iozzia and Nilsen, who will be playing their last contest for the Gators. Fans are encouraged to donate a canned food item at the game for the SF State SAAC Food Drive, benefiting the SF-Marin Food Bank.
