SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- Kylie Kiech scored a team-high 14 points and
Jerrica Crosby scored nine of her 13 points in the second half as the Sonoma State women's basketball team earned a convincing 57-48 upset victory over Cal State San Bernardino on Friday night at Coussoulis Arena in San Bernardino.
Despite the win, the Seawolves (10-18, 5-14 CCAA) were eliminated from postseason contention. The win by SSU denies the Coyotes (13-11, 10-9 CCAA) the opportunity to host a first-round game in the upcoming CCAA tournament, instead, CSUSB will be the No. 5 seed and travel to Turlock to play No. 4 seed Stanislaus State on Tuesday.
The Seawolves trailed by as much as 10 points on two occasions on the second period, the last being a 28-18 deficit with 6:19 left before halftime. That's when a Kiech three-pointer fueled a 13-0 run by SSU over the next four minutes, stretching into the third quarter that gave the visitors a 31-28 lead at the 9:00 mark. Sonoma pushed its lead to nine points at 45-36 after free throws by
Taylor Acosta just before the end of the third.
However, the host Coyotes made a push midway through the fourth, pulling within just two points 46-44 at the 4:39 mark, but Crosby drained two three-pointers in a two minute span and free throws by
Carly Gill, Acosta and Kiech down the stretch secured the upset victory for Sonoma State.
Crosby was one rebound shy of a double-double, adding nine rebounds to her 13 points. Kiech had seven rebounds, so did
Hannah Sourek, who put in 11 points for SSU on the night. As a team, the Seawolves connected on 40.4 percent of their shots (19 of 47) and was 8 for 21 from long range.
Cal State San Bernardino was led by the 19 points of Alexcia Mack, but the Coyotes were only 18 of 63 from the floor (28.6 percent) and just 4 of 22 (18.2 percent) from beyond the arc.
Sonoma State will wrap up its 2015-16 season Saturday night in La Jolla against 20th-ranked UC San Diego. Tipoff from RIMAC Arena is set for 5:30 pm.