SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – The Sonoma State women's basketball team and Head Coach Des Abeyta started their 2022-23 season off with a strong showing, defeating Dominican 65-53. The Seawolves led wire-to-wire, never trailing with Abeyta earning her first career victory in her debut.
SSU wasted little time jumping out on the Penguins, scoring on their first three possessions before
Cielo Gonzalez knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 9-0 just under three minutes into the game. Later in the quarter Donnelli Allen sank a triple of her own for her first career basket and the Seawolves took a 15-9 lead into the second.
Jayme Blackard opened the second with a 3-pointer and
Amanda Luckett made a jumper to push the margin to double-digits for the first time. The lead swelled to as many as 21 as Gonzalez and
Chasity Spady recorded back-to-back threes to make it 38-17. Dominican scored the final five points of the half to make it a 38-22 at the break.
Sonoma State took over the third quarter pushing their advantage to 26 after a 14-4 run. Six different Seawolves scored during the run with Gonzalez hitting her third 3-pointer and Trena Rathjen adding a bucket and a free-throw.
Dominican chipped away at the deficit in the fourth getting it down to ten but
Keara Colombo's layup with one-minute remaining stopped them from getting any closer.
The Seawolves dominated the game statistically, shooting 43% while limiting the Penguins to just 26% from the field. SSU won the rebounding battle 54-37 and had 11 different players score at least three points. Gonzales led the team with 11 points while
Alli McDonald added eight points and 10 rebounds. Luckett tacked on nine points and four rebounds.
Sonoma State is back in action tomorrow with a game against Fresno Pacific at Dominican. The game will tip-off at 5:00 pm.
