IRVINE, Calif. - In an exciting and well-contested matchup between quality teams with postseason aspirations, Cal Poly Pomona was upended by Concordia University Irvine, 81-73, in women's basketball action at CU Arena on Friday night.

With the result, CPP concludes the non-league portion of its 2021-22 schedule at 1-3. Playing its home opener, Concordia stays perfect at 3-0. The Broncos and Eagles are picked to place second and fourth, respectively, in their preseason coaches' polls, as members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and Pacific West Conference. CUI began its campaign last weekend with wins over two of CPP's CCAA foes, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State LA.

Cal Poly Pomona got off to a stellar start, connecting on each of its first three shot attempts. From the outset, the Broncos won the tip, and redshirt freshman Breanne Ha, in her first collegiate start coming off her incredible 22-point performance on Wednesday night, passed to Cosette Balmy, who relayed to Rebecca Islas. Just six seconds in, the senior buried a right-wing three-pointer to get things going. On the ensuing two possessions, Islas hit a jumper, again from Balmy, and Ha drilled a three of her own from the left corner for an early 8-4 edge.

A Katie Timmerman triple from the left wing later gave the home side its first lead of the night, at 13-10, heading into the first timeout. The Eagle run grew to 11-0 following that first stoppage, to 17-10. The Broncos' scoreless stretch ended at 4:38 when Ally Bates got her hands on an offensive rebound, dribbled out to the left wing, and was good from three. CPP ended the first period on a 10-1 run and led 20-18, as Bates produced a layup and two free throws around an Islas triple.

The first four points of the second quarter came from Concordia. A nice driving layup to her right by Ha broke a 24-24 tie. Michaela Vanderklugt, a preseason All-Pac West selection, connected on a three-pointer to give the Eagles a 37-32 lead at the media timeout with 4:47 left in the half. The score at the end of 20 minutes landed on 44-43 in favor of CUI, as Bates hit a step-back three with seconds remaining.

Three players went for 16 points in the first half alone, in Islas, Timmerman and Vanderklugt, while Bates added 12 for the Broncos. The teams had five triples each, with CUI shooting 54.3 percent overall.

Though Islas notched the first bucket coming out of the interval, another Timmerman three-pointer forced CPP head coach Danelle Bishop into an early timeout in the second half with the Broncos now trailing 51-45.

Cal Poly Pomona stayed stuck at 45 for a while, as a second drought reached 6:20, with the score 55-45 through the media stoppage.

Later, Chynna Cochran stole the ball and sprinted ahead for an uncontested lay-in to make it 58-51. Balmy then had a steal and passed to Bates for a basket underneath and 58-53. After three, however, Concordia maintained a 62-53 advantage.

With 6:43 to go in the fourth, a Balmy layup made it a two-possession contest at 67-61. A three-pointer by Bates closed CPP to within five, but that was as close as it would get, as the answer came on the other end from Vanderklugt, who had a great night with a game-high 31 points. It was her sixth 30-point effort as a fifth-year Eagle and graduate student.

Islas paced CPP with 18 points and collected a career-best five assists. Bates added season highs of 17 points and five rebounds. Ha was a third Bronco in double-figure scoring, with 10. Balmy had eight points and game bests of seven assists and four steals.

Vanderklugt added a game-high 14 rebounds for her second double-double of the year. Timmerman poured in 22 points in her season debut on 9-of-16 shooting from the field that included four threes.

Cal Poly Pomona remains on the road to embark on its 22-game CCAA slate after the Thanksgiving holiday at area rival Cal State San Bernardino next Saturday, Nov. 27. Tip-off at Coussoulis Arena is set for 1 p.m., with the nationally-regarded men's teams following at 3 p.m.

All CCAA basketball contests throughout this 2021-22 season will stream live online via the CCAA Network at www.ccaanetwork.com. Fans may also download the CCAA Network app on your iOS or Android smartphone, tablet, or through web streaming devices such as Amazon Fire, Roku or Apple TV. The broadcasts are free of charge through the remainder of the 2021 calendar year.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 201-99 (.670) under 12th-year head coach Danelle Bishop ... For Bishop, it was her 300th game in charge of the Broncos ... Bishop's overall career mark is 339-184 (.648) in her 18th on-the-court season ... The Broncos' starting lineup consisted of Cosette Balmy, Ally Bates, Breanne Ha, Rebecca Islas and Jayda Villareal, with Ha drawing her first college start ... Junior college transfer Chynna Cochran generated her first made basket in the green and gold late in the third quarter, and finished with six points ... CPP had won all six previous meetings between these teams going back to the 1997-98 season, going 2-0 in Irvine and 3-0 under Bishop ... Most recently prior to Friday, the Broncos had taken a 68-52 home decision on Nov. 27, 2019 ... CPP is 0-3 outside of Pomona in 2021-22 ... The Broncos' four non-conference games featured the squads picked to finish first, third, fourth and fifth in the PacWest's preseason poll.