ANCHORAGE, Alaska – This week, the Cal Poly Pomona women's basketball team traveled around 3,000 miles to play Cal State Dominguez Hills. On Friday afternoon, CPP secured the 61-57 victory over the CCAA rival in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Leading the contest offensively for the Broncos was
Ariel Marsh who sank 4-of-12 and 4-of-4 from the line en route to 14 points. Right on her tail with 12 points of her own was
Ashley Lovett, who secured a double-double with the 12 points, as well as 11 rebounds.
Jada Blackwell recorded 11 points as well and
Tyler Woods posted 10 points as four Broncos held double-digit points.
The all-time series between the two squads now sees the Broncos with 62 wins to the Toros' 16.
The talk around the Alaska Airlines Center was that you could tell the two squads had played each other before. First-half defense for both squads proved effective as CPP held the Toros to a mere 26.5 percent shooting from the field and CSUDH kept the Broncos to 39.3 percent.
With six minutes and change to play in the first half, the CPP offense came alive, sinking 6-of-9 from the field, pulling their percentage up 10 points. At the half, the Broncos had registered a seven-point, 31-24 lead over the Toros.
CSUDH, the conference and CCAA tournament champion, pushed back in the second half and even pulled ahead, but CPP always remained at least one shot away from the lead.
The Green and Gold soon cranked up the heat and pulled away from the Toros, expanding their lead to seven with just over six and a half minutes to play. As always with CCAA play however, no lead is a comfortable one, and CSUDH soon pulled just a basket back.
With mere seconds to play, Marsh sank a final two shots from the free throw line to push the Broncos up 61-57 for the final score of the game.
The Broncos will next play Seattle Pacific, who came away from the first game of the West Regional Tournament with a double-digit win over the Humboldt State Lumberjacks. The game will take place at 6 p.m. Pacific (5 p.m. Alaska).
Friday, March 13 - Quarterfinals1 p.m.: #6
Seattle Pacific (21-6) vs #3 Humboldt State (23-5)
3:30 pm: #7
Cal Poly Pomona (19-8) vs #2 Cal State Dominguez Hills (26-6)
6:00 pm: #5
Cal Baptist (24-6) vs #4 Hawaii Pacific (25-4)
8:30 pm: #8
Point Loma (19-11) vs #1 Alaska Anchorage (29-1)
Saturday, March 14 - Semifinals6:00 pm: Seattle Pacific vs. Cal Poly Pomona
8:30 pm: Cal Baptist vs. Point Loma
Monday, March 16 - Championship8:00 pm: Semifinal winners
