CHICO, California - The San Francisco State women's basketball team fought off the tough Chico State Wildcats, 78-69, on Thursday to keep their CCAA Playoff hopes alive.
- Jhaina Stephens scored a season-high 29 for her second 20+ game of the season and sixth of her career. She also added 15 rebounds for her tenth double-double of the season. The senior went 13-for-14 from the line, which ties the most free throws made by a Gator (10-16/9-12 CCAA) this year.
- Isabella Lamonea dropped in four three-pointers, moving her up to seventh all-time for most three's in a season with 51. Her 16 points gives her two double-digit games in the last three contests. Taimane Lesa-Hardee added 11 points and Danielle Palmer scored ten and grabbed seven rebounds. Toni Edwards dished out eight assists to give her 123 on the year, the fifth-most all-time in a season.
- Four Gators were in double figures.
- The victory matches SF State's win total from 2015-16 and is the most CCAA victories since 2013-14.
- SF State shot 43 percent (28-65) and improved to 7-1 when shooting better than 43 percent. The Gators also went 47 percent (7-15) from three-point range, the second-highest mark this season.
- The Gators held a 19-5 second chance points advantage in the game.
- SF State now has 126 three-pointers, which is tied for the fifth-most in a season in program history.
Stephens' two free throws began the game but the Wildcats (12-12/9-12 CCAA) answered with two of their own and a pair of layups for the early 6-2 lead. Two Lamonea triples narrowed the Chico State lead to 9-8, and she tied things up 11-all on another from deep to start a perfect three-for-three from range. Down 17-13, Lesa-Hardee converted from deep to cut it to one, and Stephen's followed with a jumper from the right side to tie things up, 18-all, a minute later. The Wildcats closed out the first with a 5-0 run to go up 26-20 after ten.
Back-to-back Stephens layups tied it up once again, 26-26, to start the second. McKena Barker's consecutive jumpers put Chico State back up by four. Anaya Sperling's jumper off a dish from Lamonea cut it to two, and Stephens made it a one-point deficit from the line. Both offenses were stagnant for nearly four minutes before two more Stephens free throws put the Gators up 33-32, and after a Mikailia Wegenke layup, Palmer regained the one-point lead with her third basket of the game to go up 35-34 with 1:36 left. Palmer widened the lead to three with a pair from the charity stripe, and Stephens' jumper capped off the 6-0 run to put SF State up five. Edwards' layup with three seconds left wrapped up the first half and gave the Gators a 42-37 lead.
The Wildcats cut it to one to start the third before Stephen's 18th point put the Gators back up three, 44-41. Madison Wong and Lesa-Hardee traded three-pointers as the back-and-forth continued, and a 7-0 run capped off by Lamonea's jumper made it a 56-51 Gator lead. Lamonea's splash from the corner made it an eight-point lead, and Palmer's layup wrapped up a 12-2 run that put SF State up 61-53. Vanessa Holland's layup with 18 seconds left cut it to five as SF State led 61-56 after three.
Myli Martinez's triple began the fourth and made it a two-point game and Barker's layup put the Wildcats up two as part of a 10-0 streak to regain the lead. But the Gators bounced back after a timeout with consecutive buckets by Lamonea and Stephens, putting the Purple and Gold up 65-63. Amani Alexander widened the lead to eight with a jumper for SF State's tenth-straight point as they battled on the road. Chico State cut it to two, 71-69, with 1:32 left as Barker added a layup and made the and-one free throw. Lesa-Hardee made a clutch three with 27 seconds from the corner that put the Gators up five and the Wildcats called a timeout. The Gator defense forced the stop and Stephens made two more from the line to ice the game.
SF State wraps up the regular season at Humboldt State this Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Live stats and a stream will be provided.
