Matador Women Fall, 61-49

All season, Cal State Northridge’s fortunes have rested with freshman Edniesha Curry.

“We lived and died with her all year,” said Coach Mike Abraham after the season ended Friday night with a 61-49 loss to Northern Arizona in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference women’s basketball tournament at the University of Montana in Missoula.

Curry was held to 13 points on five-of-18 shooting by Kara Newman, a transfer from Ventura College. By making only one of her eight three-point shots, Curry finished one shy of the conference single-season record of 65.

“She got the same looks she always gets,” Abraham said. “She was able to get around [Newman] but just couldn’t finish plays.”

Said Curry: “Sometimes the shots fall and sometimes they don’t, and today wasn’t my day for shots to fall.”

Freshman LaShaunda Fowler scored 17 points for the Matadors (14-14) on seven-of-nine shooting, but center Viveca Lof was held to two points and forward Neda Milic scored only eight.

“Our game plan was to get the ball into the low post when we slowed things down,” Abraham said.

Northridge scored the first six points on its way to an 11-4 lead, but went scoreless for 7:09 while the Lumberjacks (22-5) reeled off 17 points.

The Matadors used an 18-5 second-half run and pulled to within 37-33 with 11:28 left. In the closing minutes they were never closer than six points.