POMONA, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona women's basketball team pushed out to a 17-point halftime advantage against Sonoma State Thursday and with Sonoma County native
Sarah Semenero leading the way, the Broncos collected a 70-58 victory.
The result snaps a two-game losing streak for CPP and keeps the Broncos on the heels of Cal State L.A. for the fourth spot in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings. CPP stands at 12-7 while the Golden Eagles are at 12-6.
Overall as a team Thursday, the Broncos went 9-for-20 from beyond the arc. Leading the way was Semenero, who collected a career-high five treys en route to a game-high 22 points.
Joining Semenero with an overall impressive performance was
Charlene Popoff, who grabbed 14 rebounds while adding eight points and a career-high six assists. Fellow fourth-year
Megan Ford totaled 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks while
Jennifer Bryant ended as the third player in double figures with 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting in a career-high 37 minutes of action.
CPP built up a 15-0 run early in the first half to take a commanding 19-4 edge, as Ford capped off that spurt at the 9:30 mark with a left-handed jumper in the paint.
Bryant knocked down one of the team's nine three-pointers a few minutes later, stretching the margin to 25-5. The spread got as large as 22 but settled at 40-23 going into the break after the Seawolves' Taylor Vigil dropped in a layup with one second left till the halftime buzzer.
Out of intermission, SSU rattled of an 8-0 run that was initiated by an Elizabeth Day layup. Day finished the evening with a double-double effort of 11 points and 11 rebounds.
That spurt for the Seawolves' brought the margin back to single digits at nine but that ended up being the closest the score would get through the entire second period. In the final half, Popoff collected four of her assists while Semenero dropped in three of her treys.
Overall on the night, CPP totaled just 12 turnovers as opposed to the Seawolves' 16. Ford helped the team's turnover to assist ratio the most, collecting four assists while not committing a turnover.
Up next for the Broncos will be a 5:30 p.m. Saturday matchup against Humboldt State at Kellogg Gym. The third-place Jacks sit one win above CPP in the conference standings.