OAKLAND, Calif. — Cal State Monterey Bay took a big early lead, lost it, then stormed back to upend Holy Names University 63–57 Saturday afternoon in Tobin Gym. The win lifts to Otters to 2–1. Holy Names fell to 1–2.

The Otters got 17 points from McKenna Hill (Ventura/St. Bonaventure HS) and 13 points and four assists from Stephanie Sack (Petaluma/Santa Rosa JC). That was just enough to offset a 15–rebound performance in 19 minutes off the bench from Tatiana Howard, who grabbed 14 rebounds against the Otters last season.

The Otters led for the first 25 minutes of this contest and led by 12 points, 30–18, early in the third quarter when the wheels nearly fell off the wagon. Over the next six minutes, the Hawks rallied with a 23–3 run to erase the deficit and take a 41–33 lead of their own.

A Hill layup finally broke the spell and, within three minutes, the Otters were back on top. A Howard free throw briefly forged one last tie at 50–50 with 5:36 to play. But four consecutive Otter free throws pushed the lead back to four points and HNU never held the ball within a possession of the lead again.

"I'm really proud of our team and how we came out today," said CSUMB Head Coach Kerri Nakamoto. "They (HNU) made a run and took the lead, but we managed to fight back and regain the lead and come out with the win. We came up with big plays from a lot of different players today and I thought we played with toughness and refused to lose."

The Otters will stay on the road, continuing their 8–season trip to open the season Tuesday at Fresno Pacific University. They'll close the holiday weekend at the East Bay Thanksgiving Challenge against Academy of Art (Nov. 27) and Notre Dame de Namur (Nov. 28).