SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State women's basketball team opened its home season in front of a healthy crowd on Saturday night in the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza but the Gators saw two starters go down in a 75-55 loss to Cal State East Bay.
- Muirae Gomez led the Gators (0-7/0-4 CCAA) with 17 points, her largest output since a career-high 21 at Alaska Anchorage on November 10.
- Samantha Erisman added a career-high 14 points and eight rebounds in the loss.
- Taimane Lesa-Hardee scored 10 points.
- Madison Corder led the Gators with eight rebounds apiece.
- The Gators' leading scorer, Jolene Armendariz left the game two minutes into play due to injury and did not return.
- SF State trailed 6-2 when Kelea Pickerel-Dennis went down near midcourt on a fast break at the six-minute mark of the first quarter. The Gators' second-leading scorer returned midway through the second quarter but was limited to eight minutes and did not score either.
- Morgan Greene led the Pioneers with 16 points. Faith Turner added 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds and Madison Schiller had 11 for the Pioneers
- SF State committed 25 turnovers, their fourth game of the season with 20 or more.
The Pioneers scored the first four points, then Erisman dished to a cutting Gomez to get the Gators on the board. Halfway through the quarter, Erisman hit a spot-up three to cut the Pioneers lead to one. CSUEB built the lead back to four but the Gators evened the score 9-9 on Ashley Hart's pull-up jumper in transition and the quarter ended with the two teams tied 11-11.
Greene broke a three-minute scoring drought for both teams to put the Pioneers up two but Gomez answered right back with a layup for the Gators. The Pioneers made it a five-point advantage on Kincso Kelemen's corner three and continued to build the lead to 10. Greene rattled home a buzzer-beater to make it 32-19 at the half.
Cal State East Bay opened the half on a 9-2 run to take a 20-point lead. The Gators cut the lead back to nine with a 9-0 run of their own but the Pioneers grew their advantage back to 17. At the end of the quarter, the Gators trailed 54-39.
The Pioneers grew the lead to as large as 23 in the fourth. The Gators continued to battle got no closer than 17 down the final stretch.
The Gators head north to Humboldt State on Thursday, December 12 for a 5:30 p.m. game. The game will be streamed for a cost on the CCAA Network and live stats will also be available for free at sfstategators.com.
