Justin Ferrari

#5 Sienna Cherwinski driving down-court.

The Sonoma State women’s basketball team started conference play this past week against Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State Los Angeles in the Wolves’ Den. The Seawolves triumphed against the Toros in a thrilling 83-77 victory.

Dominant performances included senior point guard Jayme Blackard with 17 points and five assists, junior for-ward Alli Mcdonald with 27 points and 13 rebounds and senior forward Emerson Hermann with 16 points and five rebounds.

In starting strong on Thursday, Mcdonald led the charge initially, pushing the team out to a 17-9 lead. However, from there the game would become a slugfest, going back and forth as CSUDH employed a full-court press which stifled the Seawolves and slowed them down into a half-court offense.

CSUDH managed to stretch the lead out to eight at one point, but SSU came back with a resurgent charge to tie it up and managed to pull away at one point, making it a 70-67 game after Blackard took over the game, getting to the line and hitting some critical free throws to put the Seawolves up.

The Seawolves then dominated overtime, putting up 12 points in the period. Two huge three-pointers from freshmen Sienna Cherwinski and Jennifer Moreno secured the victory and got them a win behind a packed Wolves’ Den.

Blackard said, “The team prepared for the pressure we knew was coming from the Toros. Going into the final seven minutes, the team and I only had one goal in mind, to win,” which is exactly what they did.

On Saturday, SSU returned to the den, hungry for back-to-back wins, but Cal State LA had other plans. While the Seawolves played competitively they struggled to hit three-pointers, shooting 8-24, while the Eagles were locked in, scoring 32 points in the paint and 13 fast break
points. While the Seawolves were only down by four at the half, they couldn’t withstand an offensive explosion from the Eagles that saw them put up a blistering 27 points in the third period, while only allowing 11 points, which despite the Seawolves outscoring them in the final period, was too much to overcome.

The women’s basketball team will be back at it this week though as they welcome Chico State on Thursday and Cal Poly Humboldt on Saturday.