ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – The San Francisco State women's basketball team rebounded from a tight loss and picked up a 61-55 win over Sonoma State at the Wolves Den. Taimane Lesa-Hardee led the defensive effort with eight steals.
- SF State improves to 4-3 and 2-1 in the CCAA. Sonoma State falls to 2-6 and 1-1 in the CCAA.
- The eight steals by Lesa-Hardee were the second most in a single game in school history.
- Three different Gators reached double digits: Samaria Velazquez (15), Lesa-Hardee (14) and Mya Blake (10).
- The Gators shot 42.1 from beyond the arch.
- In total, the Gators had 16 steals. Sonoma State had 27 turnovers.
After a slow start, the Gator's offense got to work. Sonoma State got into foul trouble early in the first quarter and the Gators went 6-for-9 at the line. A three from Mya Blake in the final minute gave the Gators a 19-10 lead at the end of the quarter.
SF State held a cushion throughout the second quarter and never led by less than five. Samaria Velazquez scored a layup at the one-minute mark to give the Gators an 11-point lead before Alli McDonald's 3-pointer cut the Gator's lead to 36-28 at the half.
Sonoma did not stay quiet and chipped away at the Gator's lead throughout the third and fourth quarter. At 5:02 in the fourth quarter, Sonoma's Camille Johnson hit a layup and got the and-one to tie the game up 50 all. Muirae Gomez hit a turnaround jumper on the next possession and Taimane Lesa-Hardee banked a three to give the Gators a lead they would keep the rest of the way.
"Bounce back games on the road show a tremendous amount of character. This game was a character game," stated Head Coach Natasha Smith. "The two biggest things that I ask of our girls on a consistent basis is to play hard and play together. Although I did not want to play Taimane 36 minutes, I had to reward her displaying our values."
San Francisco State returns home to host Cal State LA on Thursday, December 9 for their annual Purple Out Game. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast free on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Beginning in 2022, the CCAA Network will be moving to a subscription-based model at $9.95 per month. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_wbb.
