Oliver Ziemer

Head coach Des Abeyta going over game plan with the team.

Sonoma State’s women’s basketball started their season off by hosting the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) PacWest Challenge this past weekend where they dropped their first game to Fresno Pacific on Friday, falling short 86-69, but managed to rally back the next day against Dominican University in with a close 70-65 win.

The Seawolves ended last season with a 16-13 record, making it to the Quarterfinals of the CCAA playoffs. Leading the wolf pack in field goal percentage last season, senior forward Alli McDonald is looking for a bounce-back year. She previously achieved three CCAA Player of the
Week awards and an All CCAA First Team Selection as a sophomore. “I’m super excited for my final season at Sonoma,” McDonald said, “and after last year, I’m looking to end my college career on a high note!”

Putting up 16 points and 13 rebounds in her first game against FPU, McDonald followed it up with 17 points and 13 rebounds in the game against Dominican the following day.

In their opening weekend, senior point guard Jayme Blackard had the most minutes played, putting up 19 points and six steals in the first game and 15 points with five steals in the second. Blackard also had a combined 15 rebounds and nine assists over the weekend.

Going on her second season as head coach, Des Abeyta is look ing to make another playoff run. There has been a big change to the roster and the starting five after seven athletes graduated last year. “We are very new and young, but I have high hopes for this team and our coach has crafted a great group so I’m super excited to see what we can do,” McDonald said.

The team aver- aged 39.3 percent on goals made and shot 21.4 percent from beyond the arc in their first game. There was improved shooting performance against the Penguins, finishing with a 42.6 percent field goals made and 36.4 percent from the three point line.

The Seawolves are traveling to Washington this weekend for the Saint Martin’s University Tournament. They’re set to play SMU on Friday and against Western Oregon on Saturday. The pack is looking to get their first win against Saint Martin’s and their second win against WOU.