Toros Move Up a Spot in West Region Women's Basketball Rankings
February 1, 2006

Having enjoyed blowouts over Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Monterey Bay last week, the Cal State Dominguez Hills women's basketball team has moved up one spot to No. 8 in the latest NCAA Far West Regional ranking of the season, it was announced this afternoon by the NCAA.

Senior point guard Tameka Blue is leading the charge, on pace to establish herself as the greatest scorer in CSUDH history. She is currently averaging 18.1 points per game and is only 176 points behind all-time career points leader Fay Hagen with 10 games to go.

Helping out Blue with the offense is a trio of sophomores in Alana Bailey, Brittney Blankenship and Jessica Liang, who are averaging 11.4, 9.4, and 9.2 points respectively. Liang is also the top marksman in the CCAA, leading the conference in three-point field goals made per game with an average of 2.25 per contest.

As a team CSUDH is currently No. 1 in field goal defense and three-point field goal defense, and second in points allowed per game, having held all but one team to under their season scoring average.

If the Toros are to make the regionals for the second-straight year, the next two weeks could determine their fate. Over the next four games the Toros will battle two teams ranked above them in the Far West, including No. 1 Cal State Bakersfield and No. 5 Cal State L.A.. Both of these ranked teams gave the Toros losses in the first half of the season, so the fate of the postseason may rest on whether CSUDH can avenge the early season defeats.

Eight teams per region qualify for the postseason, with the winner of both the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) receiving automatic bids. The final regional poll will determine which other six teams are awarded the six at-large berths, with those teams joining the CCAA and GNAC regular-season champions in the West Regional of the NCAA II National Tournament, taking place from March 10-13 at a site to be determined.

        Team                          Div. II   Region  Last Week 
1.      Cal State Bakersfield          14-1     12-1        1 
2.      UC San Diego                   12-2     12-1        2 
3.      Western Washington             15-1     15-1        3 
4.      Chico State                    12-3     12-3        5 
5.      Cal State L.A.                 10-3     8-3         4 
6.      Seattle Pacific                10-4     9-4         6 
7.      Northwest Nazarene              8-5     6-5        10 
8.      Cal State Dominguez Hills       6-5     5-5         9 
9.      Humboldt State                  8-7     8-7         7 
10.     Cal State San Bernardino        7-6     6-5        NR