Women's Basketball 1/22/2010 9:18:43 PM Mike Murphy, SID

Coyotes escape Otters, 59-57

Women's team blows 12-point halftime lead, then rallies from 7 down to win

Morgan Pryor scored 11 points and hit a big 3-pointer near the end of Friday's game as CSUSB beat Monterey Bay, 59-57.

    SEASIDE -- Cal State San Bernardino couldn't do anything wrong in the first half of Friday's CCAA conference women's basketball game at Cal State Monterey Bay, forging a 12-point lead while holding the hosts scoreless for the final 5:50 of the half.
    For the first 10 minutes of the second half they couldn't do anything right as the lead evaporated and turned into a seven-point Otters lead with 11:39 left in the game.
    However, senior guard Krystal Urzua scored 14 of her 16 points down the stretch to rally the Coyotes to a nail-biting 59-57 win over the Otters and improve the Coyotes record to 10-5 overall and 6-4 in the CCAA. The Otters dropped to 10-4 overall and 6-4 in the CCAA.
    The Coyotes will play at San Francisco State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday night. The game will be webcast at www.csusbathletics.com
    Joining Urzua in double figures for the Coyotes was senior Nikki Boone who scored a season-high 15 points, 14 of them coming in the first half, and senior guard-forward Morgan Pryor with 11 points including some crucial points in the final minutes of the contest.
    Helen Suarez (15 points) and Julie Huering (14 points) led the Otters.
    After Kymberly Ooten scored on a layup with 59 seconds left in the first half to give CSUSB their 35-23 halftime lead, the Coyotes were outscored 21-2 over the first 8:21 of the second half to fall behind 44-37 on Huering's layup.
    After Pryor made a free throw, Urzua sank two free throws, hit a jumper and drained a three-pointer to give the Coyotes back the lead at 45-44 with 8:55 left in the game.
    The teams were tied at 52-all with 2:34 left on a layup by the Otters Michelle Santizo when Urzua hit another jumper and Pryor followed with a three-pointer off an assist by Urzua for a 57-52 Coyotes lead with 51 seconds left.
    Suarez hit a three-pointer with 39 seconds left to make it 57-55 and Santizo scored on a layup after a Pryor free throw to make it 58-57 Coyotes with 10 seconds left. Santizo then fouled Boone, who made her first free throw to close out the game with two seconds left.
     After shooting 56 percent in the first half (13 of 23) the Coyotes finished the game shooting 37 percent (19 of 51) and were five of 16 from the three-point line (31 percent). But, the Coyotes shot 80 percent from the foul line (16 of 20), well above their season average.

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