A lesson in basketball was taught to the Cal Maritime Keelhaulers by the Lady Gators on Saturday, November 19 at the Main Gym.

In their first game of the season, the Gators (1-0) crushed the Keelhaulers (0-2) 103-40.

“Considering if was our first game at home, we did what we had to do, we had a good representation,” said Coach Joaquin Wallace, “it was a total team effort.”

Wearing one of her white lucky headband, forward/guard Farryn Lewis started the scoring off an offensive rebound tip-in and gave the Gators a lead they never lost.

During the first minute and a half of the game, it seemed that the Keelhaulers would be up to the challenge, however as they and the crowd soon found out, the Gators would dominate the court. As the Gators accumulated rebounds and points, the Keelhaulers stayed at four points for an excruciating five minutes. And when the wake up call came, it was too late.

The first three-pointer of the evening was shot by guard Bobbie Waldon, during a 30-8 run by the Gators.

Already hyped by the Gators’ early lead, the crowd of almost 400 stood up and cheered when promising freshman forward Krystal Mays joined the team.

Mays was one of the high scorers of the evening with 14 points, five rebounds and three steals. Of the 103 total points, 71 were the result of a collective effort of the seven bench players. Backup guards Waldon and Lea Sabado tied with 16 points to lead the team.

At the halftime, the Gators went into the locker room with a 54-20 lead.

Despite scoring less points in the second half and the WNBA-length three-pointers shot by Keelhaulers Katie Maddox, the Gators kept increasing their lead to a final and incredible 63-point difference.

Since the Keelhaulers’ offense could not get through the impenetrable Gators’ defense, they had to rely on guard Maddox’s skills outside the three-point-line to score.

Maddox, Cal Maritime's tallest player at six-foot-one scored 14 points of the Keelhauler’s 40.
Cal Maritime was not only disadvantaged by the level of play but also by the average height of most of their players. The Gators clearly dominated in the key. The Keelhaulers scored only 12 points in paint compaired to the 54 for the Gators.

The Gators forced 41 turnovers by the Keelhaulers versus only 15 by the Gators.

The mediocrity of Cal Maritime was offset by the great plays of SF State. This resulted in a game where the only uncertainty was not who would win but if the Gators were going to reach 100 points. When they did, after a jumper from forward/center Darya Shahvaran, the crowd errupted.

The Lady Gators’ first game at home gave many fans the hope to see their team finish with a better record than the 7-20 last season.

“We played well,” said Wallace, “we are changing the culture of the team.”