POMONA, Calif. – With eight wins in its first 10 games, the Cal Poly Pomona women's basketball team has moved into the
NCAA Division II Top 25 poll for the first time since February 2012.
The Broncos are featured at No. 24 in the latest USA Today
national rankings released Tuesday. The only other West Region squad included in the top 25 is 18th-ranked Northwest Nazarene (10-2 overall) of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC).
This week, CPP will play at Kellogg Gym for the first time in nearly a month. The Broncos host San Francisco State Thursday before taking on Sonoma State Saturday. Both games are set for 5:30 p.m. tipoff times.
Three teams are tied atop the
California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings as the Broncos are even with Cal State Stanislaus and Cal State East Bay at 5-1 in conference play.
Thursday's opponent, SFSU, is just one win behind CPP in the standings. The Gators are the best three-point shooting team in the league so far, knocking down 35.2 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc. Reserve player Leticia Galarza has been efficient at that range, posting a 12-for-17 effort through the first 12 games.
While SFSU is at its best from beyond the arc, the Broncos have excelled in the paint. CPP ranks third in the conference for field goal percentage and leading the way for the team are juniors
Ashley Lovett and
Jada Blackwell. Lovett is shooting 52.6 percent from the floor while Blackwell owns a 50-percent mark.
Last Time Out
In the Broncos' most recent game, Blackwell notched her third double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Honored by the CCAA as the conference's Athlete of the Week in early December, Blackwell is already a four-time BroncoAthletics.com Athlete of the Week selection.
Judge For Three
Senior guard
J.J. Judge continues to move up the all-time ranks in school history for three-pointers made. With another trey on Saturday in Seaside, Judge now has 114 three-pointers in her four-year CPP career. That moves her into a tie with Ruby Maciel, who played for the Broncos from 1997 through 2000.
Having already passed Elizabeth Edmond and Sarah Semenero on the list this year, Judge is not far behind the No. 2 player on the list - Shanika Perkins. The all-time leader in threes is Anna James, who knocked down 215 in her time as a Bronco.
The Countdown
On the front of BroncoAthletics.com, we've added a countdown to the "Evening of Champions" Hall of Fame celebration to be held on Friday, Feb. 7. To learn more about the event and Homecoming and Family Weekend, go to
broncoathletics.com/hof. To go right to registration for the dinner, go to
broncoathletics.com/hofrsvp.
