SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos women’s basketball team (21-6) charged back to pull off an 82-78 overtime victory over Cal State LA (17-11) in the CCAA Tournament Semifinals on Friday afternoon at Coussoulis Arena on the campus of Cal State San Bernardino.
TOP PERFORMERS
Jordan Vasquez – 21 points | 10 rebounds | 9-of-13 FG
Charity Gallegos – 21 points | 6 rebounds | 2 steals
Katie FitzGerald – 16 points | 4-of-7 3PT
Truit Reilly – 6 points | 8 rebounds
HOW IT HAPPENED
LA jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead before the Cougars charged back to take an 8-7 lead.
The Golden Eagles caught fire, holding a 24-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
An 8-1 run put CSUSM within one point at 31-30 at the 3:56 mark of the second quarter.
The Golden Eagles answered with an 8-0 run before Gallegos drove past three defenders for a last-second bucket to make it 39-33 CSULA at halftime.
The Cougars shot 44.8% (13-of-29) in the first half to CSULA’s 46.7% (14-of-30).
The difference came in 3-pointers as CSULA sunk six from behind the arch to CSUSM’s three.
Down 56-44, the Cougars came roaring back with a last-second 3-pointer by FitzGerald to cap a 5-0 run to end the third quarter at 58-52 CSULA.
FitzGerald sunk a last-second 3-pointer to send the game into overtime at 69-all.
The Cougars took their first lead since being up 8-7 in the first quarter on a pair of made free throws by Ava Ranson six seconds into the overtime period.
After another 3-pointer by FitzGerald, CSUSM took its largest lead of the game on two made free throws by Reilly to make it 76-70.
The Cougars went 8-of-10 at the charity stripe in overtime to clinch the win while LA went 2-of-5.
FAST BREAK
This marks CSUSM’s fourth consecutive trip to the CCAA Tournament Final.
The Cougars won the program’s first tournament championship last year with a 74-62 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills.
CSUSM won the battle of the boards against CSULA, 42-35, with 14 coming on the offensive side.
The Cougars got 19 points off CSULA’s 15 turnovers while the Golden Eagles only capitalized with 15 points off CSUSM’s 16 turnovers.
Despite being outshot 45.3% to 41.5% for the game, CSUSM made it up at the free throw line by going 21-of-26 to CSULA’s 11-of-17.
Vasquez collected her 19th double-double of the season (21 pts, 10 reb.) and the 45th of her collegiate career.
CSUSM is 13-6 in the all-time series against CSULA and has won 12 of the last 13 games against the Golden Eagles.
UP NEXT
The top-seeded Cougars will face second-seeded Chico State in the CCAA Tournament Final on Saturday, March 9 at 5 p.m. at Coussoulis Arena on the campus of Cal State San Bernardino.
