SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos women’s basketball team (23-6) is back-to-back CCAA Tournament Champions, defeating Chico State (21-9) 61-59 in the final on Saturday night at Coussoulis Arena on the campus of Cal State San Bernardino.
CCAA ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Jordan Vasquez (MVP)
Charity Gallegos
TOP PERFORMERS
Jordan Vasquez – 21 points | 17 rebounds | 6-of-11 FG
Charity Gallegos – 18 points | 2 assists
Truitt Reilly – 7 rebounds | 2 points
HOW IT HAPPENED
Chico State got out to an early lead at 8-5 before CSUSM came charging back to take its first lead of the game at 13-12 on a 3-pointer by Gallegos at the 5:04 mark of the first quarter.
A 3-pointer by FitzGerald put CSUSM up 24-19 to end the first quarter.
The Cougars took a 37-30 lead into the break after recording five 3-pointers in the first half to Chico State’s one.
Vasquez recorded her double-double in the first 20 minutes with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Wildcats opened the second half with a 7-0 run before Vasquez converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to put CSUSM up 40-37 at the 8:27 mark.
CSUSM took its largest lead of the third quarter at 44-37 on a Gallegos’ layup at 6:43 before the Wildcats came roaring back to even the game at 47-all with 21 seconds remaining.
Another Gallegos layup as time ran out gave CSUSM a 49-47 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Cougars went up 55-49 at 7:09 on a Vasquez layup.
Chico evened the game at 55-all on a Makenzi Laporte free throw at 4:18.
CSUSM went back up 59-55 on a pair of FitzGerald free throws at 3:17 before Chico evened the game once again at 59-all with 1:30 remaining in the game.
Chico had the ball with 21 seconds remaining, but Mina Tameilau drew a charge to give CSUSM the ball with five seconds on the clock.
Ava Ranson drove to the basket for a layup to put CSUSM up 61-59 with two seconds remaining.
FAST BREAK
Leading the Cougars in scoring in both games and recording back-to-back double-doubles, Jordan Vasquez was named the CCAA Tournament MVP. Charity Gallegos, the 2023 Tournament MVP, joined her on the All-Tournament Team.
Vasquez collected her 20th double-double of the season (21 pts, 17 reb.) and the 46th of her collegiate career.
The Cougars went 19-of-19 from the free throw line, marking the first time in program history a perfect 100% with more than 12 attempts.
CSUSM ended the game shooting 31.6% (18-of-57) while Chico State turned in a 37.9% (22-of-58).
The Cougars sunk six 3-pointers while the Wildcats were limited to just one in the entire game.
CSUSM outrebounded Chico State, 42-38.
The Cougars got 18 points from its bench while the Wildcats got only two.
CSUSM led for 32:40 of the game while Chico was on top for 3:31.
The Cougars tallied more assists at 8-5.
This marks CSUSM’s second consecutive CCAA Tournament Championship win.
The Cougars won the program’s first tournament championship last year with a 74-62 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills.
This marks Head Coach Renee Jimenez’s third CCAA Tournament Championship win. She earned her first at Cal State Monterey Bay in 2011-12.
CSUSM becomes only the second school to win both the regular-season and tournament title in the same season in the last nine years. UC San Diego won both in 2018-19 and the Tritons shared the regular-season title with CSUSM before winning the tournament championship in 2019-20.
UP NEXT
With its ticket punched to the NCAA West Regional, CSUSM will see who it will be facing in the NCAA Division II Selection Show on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. (PT) on NCAA.com.
