The Toros Online -- Cal State Dominguez Hills Athletics

This Week in Toros Women's Basketball
February 14, 2006

Opponents Scouting Report

Chico State Wildcats (18-3, 12-2 CCAA)
About Chico State: The Wildcats are coming off a 77-56 win over Cal State San Bernardino, and a blowout win over UC San Diego, 90-68 last weekend.

Against CSUB Amber Simmons would lead the attack with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Haley Ford, Amy Van Hollebeke, and Niki Simons would also be in double figures with 14, 13, and 10 points, respectively.

The Wildcats would outscore the Coyotes 44-21 in the first half, while shooting 46.2 percent from the field. In the second half CSUSB would find its offense and outscore CSUC 35 to 33, but it was not enough to overcome the first-half deficit.

The next night looked to be a battle between two of the top 25 teams in the nation. However, Chico State would make the contest one-sided, shooting nearly 50 percent from the field en route to a 47-22 halftime lead. The Tritons would respond in the second half and score 41 points, however, it was not enough to overcome the 20-point half time deficit.

Simmons would lead six Wildcats in double figures with 18 points and 12 rebounds. With her back to back double-doubles, Simmons would garner CCAA Player of the Week honors.

On the season the Wildcats have four players in double figures, led by Simmons with 18.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Lauren Himmelspach, Haley Ford, and Audriana Spencer are the other three in double figures with 13.2, 12.6, and 10.2 points per game, respectively.

Rivalry Info-Chico: This will be the 28th meeting between the two teams, with Chico State leading the series 20-7. Earlier this season the Wildcats handed the Toros their worst loss of the season, a 75-52 beat down, after the Toros were only down one at halftime. The Wildcats would outscore the Toros 44-22 in the second half to run away with the win.

Cal State Stanislaus Warriors (6-15, 2-12 CCAA)
About CSUS: Last week the Warriors dropped both games, first a 77-52 decision against Cal State San Bernardino, and the second an 89-58 loss at the hands of UC San Diego. Currently CSUS is on a six-game losing streak, and has dropped 10 of its last 11 games.

Against Cal State San Bernardino, Gwendolyn Page and Latricia Nickelberry would lead the charge, scoring 17 and 11 points, respectively.

The Warriors would lead in the first half, 14-10 with 12 minutes remaining, before the Coyotes would go on a 26-3 run over the next 10 minutes, eventually closing out the first half with a 39-23 lead. The second half would be almost a repeat of the first, with the Warriors being outscored 29-38. In the game the Warriors would only shoot 52.4 percent from the free throw line and 34.5 percent from the field.

Things would not get much better for the struggling Warriors the following night, as UC San Diegos defense held the Warrior offense to only 35.3 percent from the field while causing 33 turnovers. The Warriors would try and keep pace in the first half, and would lead at 13-12 at the 12:00 minute mark, however the UCSD offense would get its offense rolling and take a 40-25 lead at the break. In the second half, the Tritons would continue to pour it on, outscoring CSUS 49-33.

Nickelberry and Lysandra Williams would lead the offense with 14 and 11 points, respectively, and as a team, the Warriors would shoot 40 percent from beyond the arc, making eight three point shots.

On the season the Warriors are led by Pages 16.0 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Also in double figures for the Warriors is Nickelberry, with 10.3 points and 3.2 rebounds a game.

Rivalry Info-CSUS: This will be the 25th meeting between the two teams, with CSUDH leading the series 15-9. Earlier this season the Toros used the Warriors to end their two-game losing streak in a 79-56 win. Tameka Blue would lead the offense with a season-high 29 points and eight assists, while Jessica Liang chipped in a career-best 21 points, including six three pointers in the rout.

Around the CCAA

Here’s a look at the rest of the conference schedule for this week:
Wednesday: CS San Bernardino @ UC San Diego
Friday: CS Monterey Bay @ UC San Diego Cal Poly Pomona @ CS Stanislaus Cal State L.A. @ San Francisco State CS Bakersfield @ Sonoma State
Saturday: CS Monterey Bay @ CS San Bernardino Cal Poly Pomona @ Chico State CS Bakersfield @ San Francisco State Cal State L.A. @ Sonoma State
Sunday: Grand Canyon @ UC San Diego

2005-06 Toros Women's Basketball
Schedule/Results Roster Stats Press Releases
CCAA Standings

PDF Version of This Release

Last Week

CSULA & CSUB Recap: The roller coaster that has been the Toros 05-06 season took a couple of unexpected turns last weekend as the West Regions 5th-ranked team, Cal State L.A., used a second-half scoring surge to complete its 70-65 come-from-behind victory, ending the Toros five-game win streak. The next night, however, CSUDH pulled a shocker by upsetting the Wests top-seeded Roadrunners in a double-overtime 98-93 thriller, ending CSUBs 17-game winning streak.

Against CSULA the Toros would build a comfortable 30-26 halftime lead. However, in the second half the Golden Eagles began to chip away at the lead, overtaking the Toros with 2:00 minutes remaining in CSULAs five-point win.

Tameka Blue would respond after a pair of subpar (by her standards) games with 20 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals, just missing a triple-double.

Against CSUB the Toros would not let the second half break down the day before affect them as they made the trip to Bakersfield. CSUDH would jump to a 45-33 halftime lead, but again let the opposing team make a second half run. This time, however, the Toros would not quite let the Roadrunners take control of the contest, as the two teams ended in a 79-79 tie at the end of regulation.

In the first overtime, both teams would match each other point for point, ending the first overtime in an 89-89 tie.

CSUDH would start quickly in the second overtime, and outscore the Roadrunners nine to four, coming away with the upset victory.

Blue would almost mirror her numbers from the day before as she tallied 23 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and four steals.

Michelle Kribell would come out of nowhere to record the game of her life, dropping in 20 points, including 2-2 from beyond the arc and 4-4 from the charity stripe line, while grabbing 11 rebounds, both of which are career highs.

With a loss to a higher-ranked team and a victory over the No. 1 ranked team in the West, the Toros playoff hopes are alive as the latest poll comes out Wednesday.

News, Notes, & Other Toro-Bits

JUST GIVE ME MINUTES: Freshman Ennisha Kyles has be a constant figure off the bench this season, playing in 15 of 20 games while only playing more than 10 minutes five times. Given her limited play, she has almost always contributed. In her first collegiate game she played three minutes, scored three points, and grabbed two rebounds. Against Chico State she played 12 minutes, chipping in only one point, but grabbed four rebounds and one steal. And in last Saturdays double-overtime upset against the top ranked team in the West, Cal State Bakersfield, Kyles played 10 minutes, scoring two points and pulling down four rebounds, two on the offensive end.

Although her numbers are modest at best, Kyles has shown the potential to be a significant contributor for not only the remaining games of this season, but also as a permanent fixture for the future of Toros basketball.

A TALE OF TWO HALVES, BY JESSICA LIANG: The resident sharp-shooter on the team this season is Jessica Liang, who is one of the top three-point shooters in the conference. However, most of Liang's production has been limited to only one half of play. Liang has scored a total of 172 points, with 110 of those points coming in the first half, which equals 64% of her total points.

If Liang was able to duplicate her first half production in the second half of play, her scoring average would jump from 8.6 ppg to 11.0 ppg, putting her in the top 20 in the conference.

DEFENSE...DEFENSE...DEFENSE: This season CSUDH has been anchored by its ability to bring down their opponents field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, and points per game. Currently the CSUDH defense is ranked #1 in points allowed per game, opponent field goal percentage, and opponent 3-point field goal percentage amongst conference teams. The 33 points allowed against Sonoma State on February 3 is the lowest any team defense has held an opponent to this season in the CCAA.

ROUGH ROAD AHEAD: After splitting games against two ranked teams last week, the next two weeks could determine if CSUDH is to make the playoffs for the second-straight year. The Toros play at Chico State, which is currently ranked No. 4 in the West, before returning home to take on UC San Diego, which is No. 3.

Toros record by starting lineup

Bailey, Blankenship, Blue, Kribell, Liang 5-6
Bailey, Baldwin, Blankenship, Kribell, Liang 3-0
Bailey, Blankenship, Blue, Kribell, McGinest 3-0
Blue, Blankenship, Kribell, Kyles, Liang 1-0
Blue, Kribell, Kyles, McGinest, Montalvo 1-0
Bailey, Baldwin, Blankenship, Blue, McGinest 0-1

Far West Rankings

	Team	Div. II	In-Region
1	Cal State Bakersfield	16-1	14-1
2	Western Washington	17-1	17-1
3	UC San Diego	13-3	13-2
4	Chico State	13-3	13-3
5	Cal State L.A.	11-4	9-4
6	Seattle Pacific	12-4	11-4
7	Northwest Nazarene	10-5	8-5
8	Cal St. Dominguez Hills	8-5	7-5
9	Central Washington	8-7	6-6

He’s a Photographing Foo...!:
Toro fans, log on to www.michaelfoo.com/buy.htm throughout the year to purchase exciting CSUDH basketball photographs from the Toros’ official athletics photographer.

Blue’s Quest for Career Points Leader
Games Left: 6 - Needs to avg. 17.7 ppg.

	Name	Total Points	Points Behind
1)	Faye Hagan	1466	0
2)	Tameka Blue	1360	106

Toros Continue 2005-06 Basketball Web Cast Schedule With Waldcast.net: CSUDH and Waldcast.net continue their broadcast schedule for the Toros 2005-06 women’s basketball seasons. All the Webcasts can be heard here on the Cal State Dominguez Hills Athletics Website. See the complete Webcast schedule.

Longtime southland broadcaster Ronnie Wald, who begins his third year as the basketball broadcast voice of the Toros, will be calling the play-by-play.

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