Box Score POMONA – A lead is never big enough on the road and the importance of hitting a shot late was punctuated Saturday night on the road for Humboldt State.
 
After wanting to continue playing and not head into halftime, the Lumberjacks held an 18-point, 42-24, lead over the host Cal Poly Pomona Broncos.
 
The Broncos busted out an early second stanza outburst to cut their deficit to five and capped the comeback by netting the final dozen points of the night to fend off the Jacks, 70-65.
 
"They started hitting shots (in the second half) and we couldn't keep up," said HSU head coach Joddie Gleason.  "It was a different game in the second half, but you have to play through it.  We didn't capitalize by hitting the open shot and didn't have the best looks."
 
Cal Poly Pomona (6-1/3-0 California Collegiate Athletic Association) used a shooting prowess of 61.5-percent (16 of 26) and all seven of its three-pointers made in the second 20 minutes to spur the comeback charge.  At the same time, the home squad held HSU (4-3/1-2 CCAA) to eight of 29 from the floor along with winning the battle on the boards, 47-40.
 
"It's always tough to lose a big lead, but it was to a really good (Cal Poly) Pomona team," explained the Jacks coach.  "We weren't able to execute what we wanted to do and just didn't finish."
 
In fact, Megan Shields made the first of two foul shots with 6:19 left to make it 65-58, which turned out to be the Jacks final point of the contest.
 
The visiting club's final 10 attempts from the floor were off the mark to go with a missed front end of a one-and-one trip to the foul line and one turnover. 
 
Over the same last six minutes, the Broncos connected on four of seven tries including two of three triples as part of their 12-0 game-ending run for the victory.
 
The CCAA's leading scorer, Kersey Wilcox paced the Jacks with 18 points on six of 14 shots and all five of her free throws.  The point guard added six assists and three boards.
 
Jae Shin hit four three-pointers and finished with 17 tallies, 13 in the first half.
 
Elle Anderson and Kelly Kime pulled down nine caroms apiece, while Dani Gaumer hit two three-pointers for six points.
 
Cal Poly Pomona's NCAA Divison I transfer center Jada Blackwell led all players with 24 points to go with nine rebounds.  J.J. Judge added 18 points.
 
HSU started the night as cold as it finished it. 
 
The Jacks missed its opening nine attempts from the field before Anderson hit a mid-range jumper 5:47 into the game.
 
Trailing 11-9, HSU's Jessica Johnson, who had a season-high five points off the bench, tied the game at 11.  Johnson added a pair of free throws a minute later for the Jacks' first lead of the game, 15-13, at 7:42.
 
HSU hit its stride the final 12 minutes of the first half behind 10 points from Shin.  The visitors outscored Cal Poly Pomona 31-11 in the last just over seven minutes for the 18-point intermission advantage.
 
The Broncos started the second half with the first six points and a 15-2 run in four minutes to set the tone.  The Jacks held the home team at arms length between five to nine points until hitting its dry spell down the stretch.
 
The CCAA travel partners will have the unique scheduling of wrapping up their season series next weekend and both team's next contest.
 
HSU will look to bounce back against the same Cal Poly Pomona team next Saturday, Dec. 21 in Lumberjack Arena at 5:30 p.m.