SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State women's basketball team battled late but fell to the visiting Sonoma State Seawolves, 78-65 despite a 27-point fourth quarter.
- Jhaina Stephens had a game-high 19 points, 17 of which she scored in the fourth, with six rebounds and two steals. Stephens boasts a .524 field goal mark as well as a .817 percentage from the line heading into today that both rank her third in the conference.
- Danielle Palmer poured in ten off the bench on 5-of-11 from the field and had three boards. Isabella Lamonea added eight points and a team-high three assists, which ties a career best. Toni Edwards and Madison Corder each scored seven.
- Sonoma State (9-10/7-9 CCAA) had 46 bench points, led by Ugochi Anudokem's 14, who is second in the CCAA with a .526 field goal percentage, compared to just 22 point points by the Gators (8-13/7-9 CCAA).
- SF State was outscored 41-22 in the first and Sonoma State shot 46 percent (12-26) while the Gators only made nine field goals.
The Seawolves pulled ahead 10-4 early before Madison Corder cut it to five with one from the line. Sonoma State continued to roll with a 5-0 run to go up ten midway through the first which was capped off by a Kylie Kiech jumper. Meanwhile the Gators were iced offensively, going scoreless for nearly three minutes before Taimane Lesa-Hardee dished inside to Palmer to finished for her first bucket of the day. Lamonea drained a three from the left side of the key that made it 18-10 and Amani Alexander followed with jumper right under the arc in the final minute.
The visitors added another 5-0 run to go up 23-12 early in the second. Lesa-Hardee drained a nice pull up triple with just over six left, and Palmer added back-to-back baskets that made it 30-19. At the five-minute mark, Kaleigh Pugh rifled in a nice pass to Palmer under the basket to finish for her fourth bucket of the day. Anaya Sperling drew the foul and made the free throw after just entering the game in the closing minutes, but the Sonoma State continued to roll with another run, this time of seven points, to end the half with a 41-22 lead.
A floating jumper by Edwards ended another Sonoma State run and made it 45-24. With 6:36 left, Taisia Fleming poked the ball loose for the steal in the offensive end and dished to Edwards to hit the three and prompt a Seawolf timeout. Alexander added a three-pointer off a pass from Edwards, her second assist of the day that narrowed the deficit to 23. Megan Cistulli made a nice pass to Palmer in the lane for two, and Corder closed out the third with two free throws and the Gators went to the final period down 61-38.
Stephens made back-to-back baskets in the paint to star the fourth, but the Seawolves countered with six points of their own to maintain a large lead. Stephens continued her strong quarter with four free throws, giving her all 11 Gator points scored in the quarter, as we reached the midway point. The senior would go on to score 17 of SF State's 27 points in the final ten minutes The Gators pushed it late with a 12-0 run, consisting of baskets by Fleming and Corder as well as steals by the duo and Alexander, as we only trailed 74-60. Lamonea capped off the scoring with her second three to make it 78-65.
The Gators hit the road on Thursday, February 14 to take on Cal State East Bay. Live stats and a stream will be provided.
