SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - The California State University San Bernardino women's basketball team suffered a 64-56 defeat at the hands of Cal State Monterey Bay Saturday afternoon in a CCAA contest at Coussoulis Arena.

With the defeat, the Coyotes see their five-game win streak come to a close, dropping to 7-6 overall on the season and 5-3 in conference play.

The first quarter started slow, with the teams combining for only 23 points in the period. The Yotes trailed 14-9 at the end of one, with junior Citlali Salazar (Los Angeles, Calif.) leading the way for CSUSB with four points on 2-of-3 shooting.

The Coyotes trailed 30-22 at halftime after being outscored 16-13 in the second quarter. Salazar and sophomore Princess Cassell (Eastvale, Calif.) each scored four points in the quarter, and Salazar led the Coyotes with eight first half points.

CSUSB narrowed the gap in the third quarter, thanks in part to eight points on 4-of-6 shooting from redshirt sophomore Jaushlynn Ruffin (Compton, Calif.). The Coyotes thought they had tied the game when Salazar hit a deep buzzer beater at the end of the quarter, but after video review, the ball had not left her fingertips before the clock hit zero, and the game went to the fourth with the Otters ahead 44-41.

The Otters hit two threes in the first minute of the fourth quarter to go up by nine points, and would lead by as many as 18 points in the period to close out the road victory, despite CSUSB scoring the game's final 10 points.

Salazar finished as CSUSB's leading scorer with 19 points on an impressive 8-of-12 (66.7 percent) field goal shooting. Cassell and Ruffin also each hit double figures, with 11 and 10 points respectively.

Next up for the Coyotes, they begin a home and home with their local rival Cal Poly Pomona on the road on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
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