POMONA, Calif. - A strong three quarters by the San Francisco State women's basketball team was not enough on Saturday as they fell to host Cal Poly Pomona, who is ranked No. 24 in the D2SIDA national poll, by a final score of 71-62, on ESPN 3.
- Madison Corder shined in the contest with a career-high eight rebounds and tied a career best with ten points. Jhaina Stephens led SF State (8-10/7-6 CCAA) with 17 points and added eight boards. Taimane Lesa-Hardee notched her eighth double-digit scoring performance of the season and second consecutive with 11 points and tied a career high with four assists.
- Toni Edwards poured in eight points and dished our five assists. Isabella Lamonea scored six on a pair of three pointers and added five rebounds.
- The Gators were out-rebounded 51-42, including 21-14 on the offensive end. The Broncos (26-2/12-1 CCAA) all attempted 11 more free throws than SF State, who shot a season-low nine.
- The Broncos shot just 35 percent (25-71), which is the third lowest recorded this season.
Lamonea knocked down a three at the top of the key to tie things up early, 3-3, off a pass from Lesa-Hardee. Lesa-Hardee added her own triple a few possessions later to give SF State its first lead of the night, 8-6. The hosts grabbed the lead again on Monica Todd's tip-in, but Amani Alexander answered with a left-handed layup to regain the lead, 12-11. The three-point onslaught continued as Kaleigh Pugh passed to Taisia Fleming in the corner, who drained the basket for her first points of the day to regain the advantage once again. Both teams turned on the defense to keep the game scoreless for nearly three minutes before the Broncos got a free throw to go up 20-17 with four seconds left. Edwards ended the quarter with a coast-to-coast layup at the buzzer and make it a one-point game.
Danielle Palmer began the second with a jumper just outside the paint to put SF State up 21-20. Lamonea got another three, this time off a dish from Stephens, to go up 24-22, and Stephens widened the lead with a jumper the next possession. The Broncos found their rhythm midway through the second as they strung together a 7-0 run to go up by three, but Lesa-Hardee tied things up, 29-all with 4:12 remaining in the half with a deep splash from the left side, and Corder added an offensive rebound and tip-in a minute later for the two-point lead. The hosts tied it up with less than an minute left on a coast-to-coast bucket from Crystal Malveaux, and took a 34-31 lead at the half on a three-pointer in the final seconds.
Back-to-back layups by Stephens put the Gators up 35-34 to start the half, and she later gave SF State a five-point lead with another bucket, this time off an assist from Lesa-Hardee. After the Broncos tied it up once again, 41-all, Corder dropped in consecutive layups to give her double-digits and a three-point lead. Pugh worked her way to the charity stripe for the first time for SF State with just under three minutes to go, making one to make it a 46-44 lead. All tied up, Pomona got another last second three-pointer to carry a 49-46 lead into the final quarter.
Pomona continued their run to go up 53-46 after nine-straight points before Stephens ended the surge with a contested jumper and the and-one free throw. The Broncos found their rhythm to pull ahead 60-50, their largest lead of the contest thus far, after a 7-1 run as we reached the five-minute mark. Lesa-Hardee and Stephens hit baskets down the stretch as the Gators battled back, but the hosts got a big three-pointer bu Kasey Smit with 3:20 left as they now lead by double digits. SF State went on a 6-1 run over the course of 2:43 to narrow the deficit to six with under a minute to go, which was capped off by two from Edwards from the line. The Broncos sealed the win by going a perfect four-for-four from the line for the 71-62 victory.
The Golden Gators return home to host Cal State Los Angeles on Thursday, January 31 at 5:30 p.m. Live stats and a stream will be provided.
