LOS ANGELES -- Cal State Dominguez Hills senior guard Anela Thomas poured in a career-high 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field that included a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point land and a 5-for-5 from the free throw line, but host Cal State L.A. held off a valiant Toro comeback attempt and escaped with an 87-83 win in the southern California crosstown rivalry.

CSUDH drops to 4-12 overall and 4-7 in CCAA play, while the Golden Eagles improve to 11-5 and 7-3 in the CCAA.

After the hosts took an early 6-2 lead, Thomas converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to bring the Toros to within one, only to have CSULA answer with a 9-3 run to take a 15-8 lead with 5:19 left in the period.

The Toros would get to within two twice, finally knotting the game at 19-19 after a Leilani Abraham layup four minutes later, ending the period down 23-21.

Kylee Edgar brought CSUDH even to begin the second quarter, with Thomas giving the Toros a 26-25 lead with one of her triples, with an ensuing layup putting CSUDH up 28-25 at the 7:01 mark.

The visitors pushed their lead to 39-30 on a Zanna Hurst 3-pointer six minutes later with the Toros taking a 40-32 lead into halftime after outscoring the hosts 19-9 in the quarter.

The Golden Eagles heated up after the break, outscoring the Toros by 15 en route to a 68-61 lead after three, setting the stage for a final period.

CSULA pushed its lead to double-figures early in the frame, leading by as much as 12 at 79-67 with 5:09 left in regulation.

That's when the Toros made their final push, whittling their deficit to just 79-74 on a Tiara Jones layup at 3:40, with a pair of Bryanne Lopez-Wood free throws again bringing CSUDH to within five points at 81-76 at the 2:44 mark.

The hosts, however, would sink four of their final five free throw attempts down the stretch, surviving three Lopez-Wood free throws of her own and a deep three by A'moree Ferrel to take the hard-fought win.

Amaya Washington chipped in 14 points and Lopez-Wood 10 to give CSUDH three double-figure scorers, with Lopez-Wood pulling down a game-high eight rebounds.

The Toros shot a solid 46.8% from the field and an even more impressive 52.6% from downtown (10-of-19), but a -5 in both rebounds and turnovers proved too difficult a combination to overcome in the setback.

The two teams go at it again on Saturday to conclude the home-and-away series, with first tip set for 1 pm in the Torodome.