SAN DIEGO — De’Jionae Calloway (pictured above, center) scored 23 of the final 32 CSUN points as the Matadors women’s basketball team defeated San Diego State 74-69 in overtime Saturday afternoon in Viejas Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Despite a 2-for-11 shooting start, the Matadors only trailed the Aztecs 9-5 at the first quarter media timeout. Deja Williams scored seven points in the first quarter as CSUN trailed 16-12 with 10 minutes gone.

Jordyn Jackson’s three-pointer two minutes into the second cut the SDSU lead to 18-17. Meghann Henderson’s layup off an Aztec turnover on the ensuing possession earned the Matadors their first lead, 19-18. Hayley Tanabe’s jumper pushed the lead to 21-18.

San Diego State would not score for nearly three minutes until Kiara Edwards made 1-of-2 free throw attempts at the 5:55 mark. The Aztecs missed six of their first seven field-goal attempts in the second quarter. SDSU would regain the lead when Sophie Ramos connected on a three-pointer with just under four to play in the first half. Tanabe put the Matadors back into the lead with a basket the next time down.

Tea Adams’ three-pointer returned the advantage to the Aztecs at 25-23 with 90 seconds to play in the half, that would be the score at the half as the Matadors failed to connect on their final possession.

The Matadors began the second on a 9-4 run that resulted in a 32-29 CSUN lead. The Aztecs responded with a 7-0 spurt that put SDSU back up, this time by four. A Henderson three-pointer broke the streak and created a 36-35 score at the third quarter media timeout.

The teams would trade the lead three times in the final five minutes of the third quarter. With San Diego State leading 43-41, De’Jionae Calloway scored the final six points of the quarter to give CSUN a 47-43 lead after 30 minutes of play.

A back-and-forth start to the fourth quarter saw the Matadors keep the lead through the halfway part of the frame. With CSUN leading 53-51, the Aztecs forced a turnover heading into the media timeout. Taylor Kalmer tied the game with a short jumper out of the break.

Calloway responded with a jumper of her own. The teams held each off the scoreboard on the next two possessions. Ornstaduer was fouled going to the basket, but she missed both of her free-throw attempts at the 3:09 mark. Calloway followed up her miss with an offensive rebound and was fouled. Calloway made both free throws for a 57-53 lead.

Ramos scored the next time down for SDSU. Eliza Matthews scored off an offensive rebound for the Matadors. Dornstauder’s layup made it a two-point game once again. With 1:12 remaining, Dornstauder was fouled on a defensive rebound. The 6-3 center connected on both free throws to tie the game at 59. CSUN called timeout.

A jump ball under the CSUN basket. San Diego State had the possession arrow in their favor and got the ball. The Aztecs called timeout with 57.5 seconds to go. Kalmer took the inbounds pass and successfully drove the lane with 48.1 seconds remaining.

Calloway tied the game 13 seconds later with a jumper in the lane. SDSU called timeout to advance the ball. SDSU found Dornstauder on a mismatch down low for a layup to go up 63-61. The Matadors called timeout to advance the ball.

The clock wound down to 11 seconds when San Diego State knocked the ball out of bounds. Three seconds came off when Ramos fouled Tanabe. Ramos again fouled to take three more seconds of the clock. Calloway was passed the ball close to the basket. She drove the lane for a layup with 2.3 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

Adams’ free throw was the first point of the extra session. A three-point Calloway play the next time down regained the lead for CSUN at 66-64. The Matadors got a stop on the defensive end. Calloway scored again for a four-point advantage. Ramos hit a three-pointer for the Aztecs to cut the lead to one with 2:24 to go. A CSUN turnover put the ball into San Diego State’s hands.

Kalmer missed a step-back jumper. Calloway’s bucket made it 70-67 at 1:20. The teams exchanged possessions. 41.3 seconds remained when Adams’ missed a jumper. The Aztecs fouled Jordyn Jackson 20 seconds later on the rebound. Jackson missed the first free throw attempt. She made the second as SDSU called timeout to advance the ball in a two-possession game. Kalmer was successful from 17-feet. She fouled Jackson who sank both for a 73-69 game. A Williams steal got her fouled by Kalmer once again with 4.5 seconds to go. Williams was 1-of-2 from the line for the final 74-69.

Calloway scored a game-high 27 points. She was 10-of-22 from the floor. After going 1-of-6 from the free-throw line in the Dec. 21 loss at San Diego, the 6-0 forward was 7-of-7 from the charity stripe against the Aztecs. She also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Three other Matadors scored in double figures. Henderson had 13 while Williams and Jackson both had 12. Kalmer led SDSU (6-8) with 22 points. Ramos posted 14 while Dornstauder charted 13.

This was the first CSUN overtime game since Feb. 3, 2018, when the Matadors defeated UC Davis 75-71. CSUN has won their last three overtime games in a row dating back to the 2016-17 season.

ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH JASON FLOWERS
“I thought it was a gutsy win and all the credit goes to the kids. Coming off a break in which we only had two practices coming into today’s game, we did a good job of making the changes we were able to put in. We were able to score the ball today which has been our Achilles’ heel. De’Jionae was big. She has started every game this year and then I didn’t start her to begin the second half as I thought her effort was where it needed to be. She responded the right way and took advantage of her ability to put the team on her shoulders.”

UP NEXT
CSUN (4-9) hosts Hope International (10-2) on Tuesday. The game which will be an exhibition for the Royals, but counts towards the Matadors’ record, is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. The game is part of a doubleheader with the Matadors’ men’s squad. As such, if the men’s game runs long, there will be a 35-minute warm-up period for the women’s teams before tip. David Gascon will be on the BigWest.tv call.