INDIANAPOLIS – The Cal State San Marcos women’s basketball team is dancing once again. The CCAA Tournament Champion and CCAA Regular-Season Champion will be making its fourth appearance in the NCAA Division II National Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the NCAA West Regional this week in Azusa.
CSUSM (23-6) earned an automatic selection to the West Regional by winning its second consecutive CCAA Tournament Championship with a 61-59 victory over Chico State on Saturday night. As the No. 1 seed, Asuza Pacific (28-3) will serve as the host in the Felix Event Center in Azusa, California.
The Cougars will take on seventh-seeded Point Loma (18-12) on Friday. Game times will be announced on Monday. CSUSM fell 75-73 to the Sea Lions in its season opener in the CCAA/PacWest Challenge on Nov. 10, 2023 in Pomona. The Cougars have beaten PLNU in four of the last five meetings.
CSUSM punched its ticket for a third time last season, entering the tournament as the No. 3 seed and earning an 86-74 victory over Central Washington in the NCAA West Regional Quarterfinals. After defeating then-No. 14 Azusa Pacific 75-67 in the semifinals, CSUSM saw its season end after a 73-51 loss to then-No. 8 Cal State Dominguez Hills in the NCAA West Regional Championship Game.
In 2022, the Cougars repeated as the No. 4 seed and faced fifth-seeded Azusa Pacific. This was a bit of déjà vu of 2020 when CSUSM earned its first at-large bid and were in Hawaii when the NCAA canceled the rest of the athletic season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cougars saw their 2022 season come to an end as they fell 89-86 in overtime to APU in the quarterfinals.
If they win on Friday, the CSUSM Cougars will advance to the semifinals on Saturday and face the winner of third-seeded Western Washington (23-6) and sixth-seeded Cal Poly Pomona (20-9). The West Regional Final will be held on Monday, March 18 with the winner advancing to the NCAA DII Elite Eight (March 25-29) in St. Joseph, Missouri.
