POMONA – In a battle between two of the three remaining unbeaten women's basketball teams in CCAA play, Cal State Dominguez Hills got a big second quarter performance that resulted a 77-64 win over Cal Poly Pomona Thursday evening.
 
The Toros, now at 7-0, has now tied the 1984-85 team for the best start in program history. The Broncos, meanwhile, fall to 6-2 overall and is handed their first conference loss. At 3-0, Dominguez Hills and Cal State San Marcos, also victorious against San Francisco State, remain as the only undefeated teams in CCAA action.
 
Dawnyel Lair scored 13 points and was nearly pushing for a rare triple double, grabbing eight rebounds and tallying seven assists. She also had five steals.
 
After shooting nearly 25 percent in Saturday's win over Sonoma State, Dominguez Hills finished its night at Cal Poly Pomona hitting 45.8 percent from the field.
 
Freshman Nala Williams ended the night with a season-high 22 points. She also had six steals and four rebounds and assists each. Asia Jordan dropped in 11 points and eight rebounds.
 
It was a rough night for the Broncos, who entered Thursday's contest with the second best scoring defense in the CCAA with an average of 55.9 points allowed per game. The 77 points they allowed was the most on the season.
 
Ally Bates scored 20 points and Alicia Jones had a dozen to lead the Broncos. Donja Payne, currently the conference's best shooter, went 4-for-4 for eight points and had 14 rebounds.
 
It was a close battle in the opening period. The Broncos opened the game with a 5-0 lead but the Toros ignited behind two buckets from Joe'l Benoit and one from Williams to take a 6-5 lead with 7:12 left. The two sides kept the gap to within five but it was Cal Poly Pomona that took the opening-quarter win 21-19.
 
The two see-sawed with the lead until the Toros used an 11-5 run within the final four minutes to take a 43-34 lead into halftime.
 
Dominguez Hills returns home to finish year 2022 with three games, beginning with Cal State San Bernardino on a extremely rare Sunday at 1 p.m.