The last time a Warriors women's basketball team won seven straight games, that team advanced to the NCAA tournament. That was the 2002-03 season. This year's team matched that seven-game winning streak with a 63-50 win over Cal State San Marcos Saturday night.
Ana Burch led the Warriors with 16 points and Alysa Valentine scored 13 points in the win.
Stanislaus State improved to 13-4 overall and 9-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Warriors remain in a tie with Cal State East Bay for third place after the Pioneers won both of their games this weekend.
Burch had four rebounds and three steals and Valentine pulled five boards with three steals for a nice all-around game. Valentine also made three three-pointers. Riley Holladay led the team with seven rebounds.
Stan State's win over the Cougars completes the series sweep over the first-year CCAA team. It was the Warriors' first win in Oceanside as the game was played at Mira Costa College during the construction of the CSUSM's new on campus arena.
The 2002-03 season rolled off seven straight wins — and went 9-2 in the final 11 games — to go 18-9 and advanced to the NCAA West Region tournament. Only one other squad the 1999-2000 team, had a seven-game winning streak during the CCAA era.
The Warriors closed out the first half of Saturday's game with a 12-2 run for a 35-29 lead. They then ran off a 13-2 run to start the second half to build a 48-31 lead after back-to-back three-pointers by Valentine and Jasmine Washington.
Stanislaus State also used its defense to create scoring chances, forcing 23 San Marcos turnovers and scored 27 points off CSUSM miscues. The Warriors also out-scored the Cougars 30-14 inside the paint.
Ashley Ontiveros and Paige Barber each had nine points to lead Cal State San Marcos (5-10, 3-7 CCAA). Barber was hot early in the game nailing three three-pointers.
The Warriors' next game will be at Chico State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
San Marcos hands Warrior men another setback
Unable to recover from a slow start, the Stanislaus State men's basketball team was handed another set-back, this time against Cal State San Marcos in a 64-50 game Saturday night.
Christian Bayne continues to be the bright spot for the Warriors as he lead the team with 12 points but Stan State dropped its sixth straight to fall to 5-11 overall and 4-7 in CCAA play. The Warriors had started 4-1 during conference play, one of the better beginnings to a CCAA season in many years.
Instead, Stanislaus loss six consecutive games for the first time since the 2008-09 season and hopes to end this skid soon. That chance will come as a tough ask as they travel to Chico State next Saturday.
Saturday night at Mira Costa College, the Warriors fell behind 8-0 quickly and trailed 19-11 halfway through the first half. They did rally back and made it an one-point game on back-to-back baskets by Alek Carlson (a triple) and Kyle Gouveia to make it 21-20. But, a 11-0 Cougar run ensued before San Marcos took a 13-point lead into the break.
The Warriors shot just 25 percent in the first half before ending the night at 30.3 percent. They were also just 4 of 23 from the arch.
Stanislaus, though, didn't go down quietly. Trailed by as many as 15 to start the second half, the Warriors came all the way back and got within three points when Steven Evans drained a three-pointer at 6:18 left to make it a 51-48 game.
But Stan State scored just once he rest of the game, shooting 0-for-6 in the final six minutes.
Bayne picked up another double-digit scoring game to keep that stat intact as he's scored 10 or more points in every game this season. He also had a nice all-around game with seven rebounds, two steals and four assists. Evans chipped in 10 points and Gouveia had eight points and eight rebounds.
Akachi Okugo scored a game-high 20 points, while Darnell Taylor put up 15 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. CSUSM scored 20 points off turnovers to improve to 10-6 overall and 7-3 in CCAA.
The Warriors' next game will be at Chico State starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Warriors with two provisionals, two near misses at Boise
Lindsay McKee continues to inch forward with an improved mark and Kyrah Vaughn also earned a provisional spot as the Warriors return from the Boise State Bronco Indoor Track & Field Invitational with solid results.
McKee, who had a provisional qualifying throw last week in the season opener in Seattle, slightly improved on her season best in the weight throw. On Saturday, the senior threw a 55 feet, 11 3/4 inches (17.06m) for second place on the day. McKee's mark is the best collegiate finish on the day, behind a club athlete Hayli Bozarth, who threw a 62-2 1/4. McKee had recorded a 54-2 last week.
Also in the weight throw, Alnas finished seventh on the day with a 53 feet, 6 1/2 inches or 16.32-meters, just missing the "B" mark of 16.34.
Vaughn notched a provisional time for the first time this season in the 800-meter run with a time of 3:54.10, for four place behind three Division I runners. Utah's Ali Eisenbeiss clocked 2:1124.
Like Alnas, the 4x400-meter relay team came up just short of potentially qualifying for the NCAA championships. The team of Vaughn, Mercy Akanji, Michelle Akanji and Misha Strong finished third in 3:54.10, which is just two seconds shy of making the mark of 3:52.71.
Also of note from Saturday's meet was top seven finishes in the 400-meter run by Mercy Akanji and Strong with 58.91 seconds and 59.00 seconds, respectively.
