March 4, 2006
Box Score
Seaside, CA -- Cal State Dominguez Hills used a commanding 46-19 scoring burst to put the game away in the first half, before Tameka Blue's (Watsonville, CA/Santa Cruz HS) bucket with 17:34 left in the second half gave the senior from Watsonville the Toros' all-time career scoring title, putting an exclamation point on CSUDH's regular season with a convincing 79-57 win in its regular-season finale. With the win, CSUDH improves to 15-11, 10-10 CCAA, and awaits its fate as the NCAA Division II West Region brackets will be announced Sunday evening.
The Toros scored the game's first 10 points, jumping to a 19-point lead at 27-8 on a pair of Aujanee Baldwin (Fontana, CA/Etiwanda HS) free throws with 8:32 left in the first half. Two free throws by senior Brandi McGinest (Long Beach, CA/Kansas University) gave CSUDH its first 20-point lead of the night, and 3-pointer by Jessica Liang (Alhambra, CA/Mark Keppel HS), one of four she would hit in the frame, pushed the Toros' advantage to 29 points at 46-17 with just 27 seconds left before intermission, where two free throws by CSUMB's Jessica Harris closed the first half scoring as the Toros entered the locker room with a 46-19 cushion.
With Blue garnering eight first-half points in front of family and friends who traveled from nearby Watsonville to Seaside, the only drama left in the evening was when Blue would claim sole ownership of the CSUDH all-time scoring record. Blue's family and friends didn't have to wait too long as the senior notched her 1,466th and 1,467th points on a jumper at the 17:34 mark, giving the Toros a 29-point lead and Blue the all-time record. The senior, who was fouled on the play, fittingly converted the foul shot to push the lead to 30 points, ending what remained of the evening's drama.
The Otters, who would eventually outscore the Toros 38-33 in the second half, would never get closer than 20 points the rest of the way as CSUDH cruised to the 22-point win. Sophomore Liang finished with 16 points, while Blue tallied 15 on her record-setting night. Sophomores Alana Bailey (Altadena, CA/John Muir HS) and Brittney Blankenship (Palmdale, CA/Palmdale HS) poured in 14 and 10 points, respectively, to round out the four CSUDH double-figure scorers. For the hosts, Krista Herr notched a team-high 10 points and grabbed a whopping 20 rebounds in the loss as CSUDH swept the season-series from the Otters.
CSUDH, which finished the regular season tied for 5th place in the CCAA, will know whether it can pack its bags for the West Region on Sunday evening as the host institutions, seeds and match-ups are announced.
