A big run in the second quarter turned the momentum in favor of the Warriors as the Stanislaus State women's basketball team defeated San Francisco State, 60-47, Saturday night at Fitzpatrick Arena.
With the win, this Warriors team became the first to go 7-0 at home during the CCAA era. Stanislaus has now won six straight California Collegiate Athletic Association games, tying the 2002-03 team for the program best. The Warriors also moved up to third place in the conference standings and are now 12-4 overall and 8-2 in the CCAA.
Stanislaus State, which beat SF State back on Dec. 5 on Alysa Valentine's magical eight 3-pointer night, swept the season series for the first time since 2005-06.
Riley Holladay had 14 points and Ana Burch scored 11 points to lead the Warriors scoring. Reana Hardin chipped in eight and Valentine scored seven. Burch also had four assists, five steals and five rebounds for another solid all-around game.
In what figured to be a low scoring game against San Francisco State, the Warriors came out slow again hitting on just 4 of 13 in the first quarter and trailed for the first time this season at 15-10. But the second quarter completely turned the game around.
Stan State scored 15 unanswered points and nearly shutout the Gators in the second. San Francisco State finally scored on a Tatsiana Dashkevich three-pointer at 2:47. By then the Warriors had taken over with a 10-point lead and never fell behind again.
Already leading 47-35 to start the fourth period, the Warriors used a 10-3 little spurt to gain their biggest lead of the night at 19, 57-38.
San Francisco State (4-11, 2-7 CCAA) entered the night as the worse scoring team in the league, averaging just 47.1 points per conference game.
The Gators were led by Dashkevich, who finished with 16 points and six assists. Naila Washington grabbed 13 rebounds as the Gators out-rebounded the Warriors, 42-30.
Stanislaus State will have a couple of light weeks on its schedule ahead with just a single game each week. On Saturday, the Warriors travel to Cal State San Marcos and won't play again until visiting Chico State on Jan. 30.
Warrior men fall short against SF State
The Stanislaus State men's basketball team dropped a second consecutive heartbreaker, this time rallying all the way back from a 22-point deficit before ending up just short in the loss to San Francisco State, 75-71.
After the Gators finally became human and started to miss three-pointers, the Warriors almost stolen the win on a Christian Bayne three-point try before dropping their fifth straight game. The Warriors, now 5-10 overall and 4-6 in CCAA play, also fell just short on Friday in an overtime defeat.
Kyi Thomas was the highlight for the Warriors with a career-high 20 points and Bayne finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Kyle Gouveia scored 10 and Alek Carlson grabbed seven boards to go with nine points.
Thomas hit three three-pointers (and was 5 of 11 overall) and also converted on 7 of 10 free throw chances for his totals.
SF State shot lights out from long-range as the Gators made 11 of its first 13 three-point attempts. Nick Calcaterra made two to start the second half and Brantley Bynum's triple at 16:32 gave SF State a 21-point lead. The Gators' biggest lead on the night, though, was 22 early in the second half.
Then, SFSU missed its final eight three-point attempts on the night — opening the doors for the Warriors' comeback.
During the rally, Stan State out-scored its opposition 33-13 during a 14-minute span to get within one point, 67-66. It was also during that run that the Warriors made 11 of 13 free throws to turn the game into a thriller.
After a SFSU jumper, a Bayne three-pointer at 1:33 remaining tied the game at 71-71. Following a Gators timeout, Treaven Duffy's layup gave SFSU a two-point lead, but the Warriors had two chances down the stretch.
Thomas missed a three-point try with 26 second left and with 11 ticks to go, Bayne got a good look to try to go for the win, but the shot rimmed out with Calcaterra grabbing a defensive rebound with half of a second on the clock.
In the end, the Gators shot 52.8 percent for the night and ended up 11 for 21 from the arc. McMurry netted a career high of 24 points on 10 of 14 shooting with three three-pointers.
The Warriors will be on the road for the next two weekends, with single game trips. On Saturday Stanislaus State visits Cal State San Marcos for the first time. Then, on Jan. 30, the Warriors will travel up to Chico State.
McKee, Vaughn get Track season off and running
A pair of Warriors — Lindsay McKee and Kyrah Vaughn — kicked off the track and field season on Saturday as they competed at the UW Indoor Preview at the University of Washington.
McKee, a returning All-American in the outdoor hammer throw, finished seventh in the weight throw with a best result of 54 feet, two inches. McKee's personal best of 57-feet was accomplished at this event was set here a year ago at this meet. Kaytlyn Coleman of Eastern Washington was the winner with a toss of 62 feet, 8 1/2 inches.
In the 800-meter run, Vaughn clocked 2:17.93 to place 12th. That time is a better start for her a year ago when she started out with a 2:19.46 at this event. Stanford's Malika Waschmann won in 2:08.96.
The next stop of the women's indoor track & field team is Boise, Idaho, when they compete at the Bronco Invitational on Saturday.
