California State University at Northridge
10-4
Seattle University
3-11
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Matadors Storm Past Seattle in Final Non-Conference Test
1/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Playing in the same city as their NCAA Tournament First Round contest last March, the Matadors fired on all cylinders Saturday in their final test before the start of Big West Conference play. CSUN finished 15-of-33 from 3-point range to tie a program record for most triples in a game. The Matadors also dished out a season-high 26 assists and committed just eight turnovers in the victory.
Lister finished with a team-high 21 points and knocked down six 3-pointers in the victory. She added four rebounds and now has 118 3-pointers in her time at CSUN, the fifth-most in program history.
"I think today's win gives us confidence going into conference play because it was a team win. Defensively, we executed all game," Lister said. "Hitting 15 3-pointers shows what getting into the gym can do. It gives you confidence in your shot and and also shows trust and faith in your teammates."
Ashlee Guay posted her third career double-double by recording 10 points to go with a season-high 10 assists. She added three rebounds and two 3-pointers to give her 146 for her career. Her four field goals increased her career total to 514, the fourth-most in program history.
CSUN started quickly Saturday afternoon. Janae Sharpe scored the first five points, Katelin King knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and the Matadors led 23-10 with 10:57 left in the first half. That forced Seattle to take two timeouts less than 10 minutes into the contest.
Seattle started to make a run and cut the lead to 25-16, but King knocked down her third 3-pointer of the half to snuff out the run. The Matadors continued to knock down shots from beyond the 3-point arc, building a 36-20 lead with 3:24 left in the first half.
Seattle fought back to close the halftime deficit to 43-32. King scored a career-high 13 points and CSUN finished with eight 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes. Guay added a steal in the first half to give her 257, the 10th-most in Big West Conference history.
The second half started just like the first, with the Matadors getting a 3-pointer on their first possession, this one from Lister. She knocked down a second 3-pointer to extend the CSUN lead to 51-35 with 17 minutes left in the contest.
The Redhawks cut the lead down to 10 at one point early in the second half. However, Sharpe and Guay combined for consecutive fastbreak lay-ups to push the lead back to 51-35 with 11:03 left in the half.
Emily Coleand Lister added 3-pointers to give CSUN its largest lead of the game, 69-47, with 7:58 left in the half. That lead continued to grow as Sharpe cut through the defense for a pair of lay-ups and CSUN led 73-47 with about seven minutes to play.
Sharpe finished with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists in 19 minutes of work. She now has 326 career assists, the fourth-most in program history. King finished with a career-high 16 points and five 3-pointers in 19 minutes off the bench.
Camille Mahlknecht was the fifth Matador to reach double-figures, scoring 11 points to go with six rebounds, a season-high four assists and two blocked shots in 21 minutes of work.
As a team, CSUN shot 47.9 percent (34-of-71) from the field and 15-of-33 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range. The 15 3-pointers matched the program record when CSUN also had 15 in a victory against Cal State Fullerton last season.
After struggling with turnovers in two games in Philadelphia, CSUN committed just eight miscues against Seattle and turned 18 Redhawk turnovers into 22 points. Kaylee Best led Seattle with 23 points and nine rebounds in the defeat.
"I thought our kids did a good job of responding to a couple days of practice. We were able to get back into the gym and I think our kids did a great job of doing what we worked on and applying it in a game," CSUN head coach Jason Flowers said. "This win helps us get back on track as far as how we are playing."
The Matadors have finished their non-conference portion of their schedule and now get ready for the rigors of the 2015 Big West Conference season. CSUN opens with three-straight league games at home, starting with a Jan. 8 matchup with UC Davis at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.