They say a picture's worth a thousand words, but if you want to know why the Gator women’s basketball team lost 51-44 to Sonoma State Saturday, a single number tells the whole story.

13.9.

That's the percentage rate at which the Gators converted their shots from the field in the first half of the game—just enough to edge to a 13-11 lead midway through the period.

What followed can only be described as awful: the Gators lofted 31 shots toward the bucket, but hit everything but net. The visiting Seawolves went on to finish the half with a 13-0 run, and never looked back.

Gator coach Joaquin Wallace was pragmatic—but honest—about his team's shooting woes.

"What went wrong? We didn't put the ball in the bucket, that's what went wrong," Wallace said. "I mean, we shot thirteen percent in the half. I don't care who you are, you can't beat anyone—anyone—at a college level shooting thirteen percent."

The Gators did out-shoot the Seawolves 64-46 overall, but Sonoma converted a third of their attempts. You do the math.

The Seawolves employed a tough and smothering man-to-man defense that forced the Gators to shoot—albeit badly—from the perimeter.

They also made the most of their considerable height advantage, grabbing 34 of the Gators' missed shots off the glass.

Gator Jessica Hout-Freeman led with an impressive game-high of 22 points—half her team's tally—including an eight-point rally that put the Gators ahead early in the first.

The sophomore guard also helped out in defense, twice forcing turnovers in her own backcourt before charging to the paint and scoring at the other end.

"Once we found a rhythm and started making shots, we got back in the game," said Hout-Freeman, who in perhaps the game's most telling moment missed a sitter from the field with nine seconds remaining—leaving her to look up to the ceiling, close her eyes, and shout an expletive to the heavens. "We tried, we really did. We worked till the end."

Top Gators Krystle Mays and Dominique Hunter were largely ineffective throughout, chipping in just two and nine points respectively. The Seawolves had three players in double-digit scoring, led by Chelsey Armacost who poured in 16. Danae Wellander had 12 points and added 11 rebounds.

The Gators drop to 5-8 overall and 2-4 in conference play, and go 1-1 over the weekend having defeated Humboldt State Friday. They play eight of their next nine games at home, beginning with Cal State L.A. on Friday and CSU Monterey Bay Saturday.

"We really wanted this win tonight after last night and being so successful last night, but it's hard playing back-to-back games," Hout-Freeman said. "We just have to come back next weekend and work hard, and I think we'll be fine."