TURLOCK — Game after game, the Stanislaus State women's basketball team keeps proving that it can win under any conditions.
 
Against a lock-down Seattle Pacific defense Thursday, down four players due to injuries and a fifth fouling out of the game, the Warriors still found a way to extend their winning streak to eight, topping the Falcons, 57-55, in a non-conference game at Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena.
 
Stanislaus State (8-1) played six underclassmen on Thursday, but it was the veteran leadership of Kyanna Davis and Taylor Pilot at the end which iced the victory. Davis hit an important 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter to put Stan State up five – part of her game-high 23 points on the night. Third-year sophomore Pilot went to the free-throw line with only three seconds left and made both her free throws, making what had been a three-point game into a five-point contest at 57-52 and sealing the win. Pilot's free throws proved even more important when SPU's Bailey Brennan hit a 3-pointer as time expired that would have tied the game.
 
Stanislaus State's eight wins in a row since Nov. 13 is now its longest winning streak in more than 30 years. The Warriors won nine in a row from Jan. 5 to Feb. 8, 1991. They still have a long way to go to reach the 1989-90 team's 16 wins in a row, and the school-record 17 in a row the 1988-89 team won. Thursday's win over Seattle Pacific was the Warriors' first-ever against the Falcons, having dropped the two programs' only other matchup, 89-60, on Nov. 29, 2003, in a neutral contest in Nampa, Idaho.
 
"Kyanna Davis makes up for a lot of mistakes," said Stanislaus State head coach Wayman Strickland. "She makes up for a lot of lack of poise. She's a senior, she's kind, gentle but not passive. And she's a determined young woman.
 
"She's the tip of our spear and she's the engine that makes this thing run, and she did everything tonight. She played (the five position), she played (the one position), she made 3s, she passed for a big assist off a pick-and-roll to hit a teammate that gave us a 3 to give us some distance, and she does it all with poise and grace. If she keeps this up, she's going to be MVP of this league (California Collegiate Athletic Association)."
 
Seattle Pacific's tenacious D held the Warriors to their second-lowest shooting percentage of the season (31.5%) and their fewest points all year (57). SPU outrebounded Stan State, 41-32, and outshot them, 40.4% to 31.5%. But in turn, Stanislaus State forced the Falcons (4-6) to commit more than twice as many turnovers (15 to 7), it made eight 3-pointers to the Falcons' five, and outshot them at the free-throw line (71.4% to 57.1%) to stay on top.
 
And Stanislaus State did all that with a bevy of gaps on the bench and in the starting lineup. Kaleigh Taylor and Liliana Marques – both who started Stan State's first eight games and are both among the team's top-five scorers and rebounders – did not play Thursday night. Amaya Mcleod, another player who's started all nine games this year including Thursday, did not play in the second half. Joia Armstrong, who was seeing some of the most playing time she's seen all season on Thursday, left in the fourth quarter. And Lavinia Moa fouled out two minutes into the fourth with the Warriors only leading by three, 46-43.
 
"You need games like that to build character," said Strickland, "You just don't wish that type of adversity on anybody. We had three players scratched to injury today, so it was a little brutal."
 
Only once did either team lead by more than six points, and that was when Armstrong made one of two free throws midway through the fourth to put Stanislaus State up, 52-45. Stanislaus State never trailed in the second half, though Seattle Pacific tied it at 28-28 in the third and got to within one or two points on eight different occasions after halftime.
 
Davis hit three of her final four 3-point attempts after going 1 for 6 from deep in the first half. Thursday was Davis' fifth game this season and fourth in her last five logging numbers in five categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks). She had her sixth 20-point game of the season with 23, tied for the game highs with eight rebounds and three assists, and also had a block in the fourth quarter which preceded her big 3-pointer with less than three minutes to go. Pilot and Armstrong both had nine points and five rebounds each, with Pilot adding three assists and two steals. SPU was led by 12 points from Brennan and 11 from Schuyler Berry, both off the bench.
 
The Warriors return to CCAA play at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday when they host Humboldt State. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on WarriorAthletics.com.