SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Sonoma State was just two points shy of a victory Tuesday night against Academy of Art who bested them 78-76 in the Icebox of Dominican University. Sonoma's overall record falls to 7-5 overall and the Knights rise to 7-4.
Jessica Mitz had a career night and lead her team in both total points, 21, and rebounds, 9. She was 46 percent from the field, 50 percent beyond the arch.
Madison Burroughs posted 13 points, three steal sand six rebounds.
Kylie Kiech,
Molly Donovan, and
Carly Gill contributed ten apiece and Gill lead the team with five assists.
As a team, the Seawolves pulled down 43 rebounds, a whopping 21 of them were offensive. They shot 41 percent on 72 total shots.
Seawolves and Knights traded shots in the final sixty seconds of the first quarter. In four consecutive plays, the Knights scored, next Donovan scores a jumper, the next trip Mitz ups the ante to a three and Academy of Art answers with their own. The teams ended the first quarter 19-17 in Sonoma's favor.
In the second quarter the Seawolves pulled away outscoring their opponents 24-13. In the last 3:45 the Seawolves scored 12 points, four came from the charity stripe, while their shut down the knights to only two points.
The teams opened the second half with 41 Sonoma and 32 Academy of Art. The Knights struck fast, in the first six minutes and the Seawolves fended them off, thanks in part to Donovan for scoring on three consecutive trips down the court and a layup by Burroughs. However, with three minutes left and the score at 51-47 in Sonoma's favor, The Knights scored a layup, jumper, and three free-throws to take the lead 52-51.
The final quarter both teams scored over twenty points each. The Knights had a lead of ten points with 1:30 left in the game. Burroughs nailed a jumper, and made free-throws from Kiech and Mitz closed the gap to 4. At the buzzer, Gill made a half court trey, but it wasn't enough and the Knights took the game 76-78.
Sonoma State will hit the road this weekend to face Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock at 5:30pm on January 6th.
