SANTA CLARA – The San Francisco women's basketball team made it's way back to the court after not playing for over a year and a half. The Gators fell 74-41 in an exhibition game against Division I Santa Clara at the Leavey Center.
After starting the first quarter down 6-0, Jolene Armendariz provided the Gators some juice and landed three 3-pointers in a row to tie the game up 9-9. The Broncos stormed back and closed out the quarter with a 13-3 scoring run. Santa Clara kept their cushion heading into the second quarter and closed it out with a 38-21 lead. The Gator's three-point scoring cooled off in the second quarter as they finished 0-6.
The Gators offense continued to struggle in the third quarter as they were limited to a game low 10 points. Santa Clara shot .450 in the quarter and finished the quarter with a 56-31 lead. Mya Blake gave the offense a spark to open the fourth quarter with a pair of free throws and a long two-pointer. But the Broncos lead proved to be too much to overcome.
"It feels great to be back. Love the game and missed it a lot," said Head Coach Natasha Smith. "I think it was a lot of nerves for everybody including the returners and myself. I think we got the nerves out we needed to. We showed a lot of upside in our defense, getting all over the place. Never giving up and showing some resilience. We'll be better prepared when we place people at our level."
San Francisco State opens up the season on Friday, November 12 against Simon Fraser. Tip-off is slated for noon. Live stats available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_wbb.
