Carson, CA - The Cal State Dominguez Hills women's basketball team showed no fear in taking on two-time defending CCAA Champion and the No. 6-ranked team in the nation, Chico State, as the Toros get a convincing 73-54 win in front of a raucous Saturday night Torodome crowd.
The junior duo of Brittney Blankenship (Palmdale, CA/Palmdale HS) and Jessica Liang (Alhambra, CA/Mark Keppel HS) each scored 16 points apiece to lead CSUDH to its second straight win of the young season.
With the victory, CSUDH improves to 2-0, 2-0 CCAA, while No. 6 Chico State suffered its first loss of the season to fall to 3-1, 2-1 CCAA.
The Toros would start the game with a full head of steam, jumping out to a 12-2 lead over the first four minutes of play, thanks in part to three and a jumper by Liang.
The nationally ranked Wildcats would begin to get their paws under them, cutting the Toro lead to five at 16-11 on a trey by Jade Smith-Williams.
However, Blankenship would respond with a long range bomb of her own and, after a Wildcat free throw, Liang would hit her second three of the game to push the Toro lead back to 10.
CSUDH would keep the pressure on, extending its lead to 15 at 29-14 with 6:46 left, before going into the intermission up 35-25.
In the second half the Wildcats would again cut the Toro lead to five at 39-34 over the fist seven minutes of play, but CSUDH would once again respond with back-to-back-to-back jumpers by Alana Bailey (Altadena, CA/John Muir HS), Michele Hale (Los Angeles, CA/Cal State Monterey Bay), and Ree Browne (Torrance, CA/South Torrance HS), and a pair of free throws by Blankenship to rebuild a 13-point lead over the course of four minutes.
The Toros would keep up the defensive intensity, never allowing their lead to dip below 10 points for the remainder of the game.
Chico State would post two players in double figures as Smith-Williams and Amber Simmons contributed 14 and 11 points, respectively.
In addition to Blankenship and Liang's 16 points, Bailey would chip in her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Brigayle Iglehart (San Diego, CA/Grossmont College) would add seven points, six rebounds and three steals while Browne came off the bench to score six points, pull down two boards and one blocked shot in 13 minutes of work.
As a team, the CSUDH defense would hold the high-powered Wildcat offense to a 29.6 field goal percentage, and 30 points under their season scoring average of 84.0 points per game.
CSUDH will be in action Wednesday, December 6 when they travel to Azusa Pacific for a non-conference game, with tip-off slated for 6:00 pm, before returning home two days later to host Grand Canyon University on December 8, with a 5:30 pm tip-off.
