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POMONA, Calif. - The No. 23 Cal Poly Pomona women's basketball team showed a smothering defense Saturday, as the Broncos forced 25 Alaska Anchorage turnovers en route to a 67-47 victory.
CPP (27-4) advances to the Sweet Sixteen stage of the NCAA Division II Tournament, with the West Region title game to be played at 7 p.m. Monday in Kellogg Gym. The top-seeded Broncos will challenge the second seed, Grand Canyon. The Antelopes (29-2) knocked off Cal State Monterey Bay earlier on Saturday. Monday will mark the first appearance for CPP in the West Region championship game since 2004.
“We just keep trying to take it one game at a time and not look ahead," CPP head coach Danelle Bishop said. "We keep saying 'It's do or die time.' We can't let up. Each play has to be special and important and we have to be smart. Right now, our thought is Grand Canyon and that's what our focus has to be.”
On Saturday, the Broncos had four players in double figures. Leading the way was
Reyana Colson, who scored 18 points and added five steals.
Sarah Semenero nearly earned a second-straight double-double performance, netting 11 points and eight rebounds.
Megan Ford and
La'kenya Simon West contributed 14 points apiece.
The visiting Seawolves held a small margin at certain points in the first few minutes but a three-pointer from Semenero at the 16:21 mark put the Broncos ahead. CPP led for the remainder of the contest. Minutes after Semenero's bucket, the Broncos put up a 7-0 run to earn a double-digit advantage.
The hosts carried a 34-22 lead into halftime, with the CPP offense getting a strong opening period from Ford, who went 4-for-6 in that span. The Broncos showed tremendous team effort on offense, always making the extra pass for open looks.
Around the midway point of the opening half, the ball was deflected off a CPP player and it appeared to be heading out of bounds. Colson made an acrobatic save and dished it to
Jennifer Bryant, who swung the ball so that
Rosslyn Beard could knock down a three-point chance.
The two teams matched each other offensively during the start of the second half but the Broncos turned it on once again. Roughly eight minutes into the period, CPP forced back-to-back turnovers that allowed Colson to connect on consecutive layups, including one of the three-point variety with a foul attached. That was part of a 6-0 run, capped off with a Simon West layup.
An exclamation point on the night came from
Kaitlin Derby with 1:48 to go in regulation. Bryant came up with an impressive steal as the Broncos put the trap on UAA and dished it off to Derby, who sunk the resulting trey.
