AZUSA, Calif. - One of the nation's best free-throw shooters this year,
J.J. Judge didn't need any 'free' points on Tuesday.
Instead, she went for the hard-earned, three-point variety to lift the Cal Poly Pomona women's basketball team to a thrilling 68-62 win against Point Loma Nazarene.
It took three and a half minutes for Judge to get on the board but once she got going, the Sea Lions couldn't stop her. Judge knocked down 12 of her 17 shots, including an 8-for-8 showing from beyond the arc. In the end, she finished with a career-high 36 points in 36 minutes of action.
As it turns out, this type of performance is a 'once in every 15 years' type of performance. The only other player in Broncos' history to hit eight three-pointers is Elizabeth Edmond, who accomplished the feat almost exactly 15 years ago - Dec. 19, 1997.
CPP held a 34-27 lead at halftime Tuesday and pushed the margin to as many as 17 points in the second half. The Sea Lions kept battling and even pulled to within one, 63-62, with 1:56 to play.
How did the Broncos respond on the next possession? Judge knocked down her eighth and final three-point attempt to make it a two-possession game once again. CPP went on to shut down Point Loma offensively the rest of the way.
Leading that second-half PLNU rally was Carlott Kloppenburg, who scored 27 points while going 7-for-13 from beyond the arc.
The Broncos now stand at 3-4 overall and they'll return to action Wednesday with a 4 p.m. game at Azusa Pacific. The Cougars of APU are hosting a two-day invitational at the Felix Event Center.
The Sea Lions actually held a lead over the Broncos about 14 minutes into the first half Tuesday but CPP closed out the period well. The Broncos stole back the momentum and a
Lisha Elsenbach three-pointer with seven seconds to play gave CPP a seven-point advantage heading into the break.
Through the full 40 minutes of action, the Broncos ended up getting outrebounded 41-34 but used hustle on the defensive end to take a 12-7 edge in the steals category. Senior
Ashley Boggs collected a career-high four steals while Elsenbach recorded a career best in rebounds with seven.
Overall, the CPP defense held the Point Loma starting five to an 11-for-34 shooting effort Tuesday.
Judge, who had a previous career high in points of 28, raised her season scoring average to 17.1 with Tuesday's impressive performance. That season average
ranks fifth among players in the California Collegiate Athletics Association (CCAA).
