CSUDH Women's Basketball Weekly
December 11, 2006

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• No.22 UC San Diego (12/16)
• Notre Dame de Namur (12/18)

Recapping Last Week
It was a rough beginning to last week for the Toros as CSUDH was blown out, 77-52, in a non-conference match-up at Azusa Pacific, before picking up a 84-65 win over Grand Canyon.

The normally “lock down” Toro defense struggled to contain Cougar forward Abby Johnson, who torched CSUDH for 28 points while shooting 13-18 from the field. Abby’s hot hand would spread to the rest of the team as APU shot a blistering 57.6% from the floor to the Toros’ 32.8%.

Alana Bailey led the offense with 11 points and six boards, with five coming on the offensive end. Sophomore Ennisha Kyles established new career highs in points with 10 and minutes with 22, while tying her career high for offensive rebounds with six.

Two days later, Unique Bennett’s five second-half threes in only eight minutes on the floor helped CSUDH overcome a 36-29 halftime deficit to defeat Grand Canyon University 84-65 in the Torodome.

The Antelopes would take advantage of some early Toro turnovers to jump out to a 19-10 lead with 12:53 left in the first half.

CSUDH would then find its long range touchs using a trey by Jessica Liang to cut the lead to four, and another by Michelle Kribell at the 10:18 mark to cut the lead to one at 21-20.

The Toros would grab their first lead of the game on Liang’s second long range bomb of the day, but back-to-back buckets by the ‘Lopes would regain the lead for GCU at 28-27.

GCU would extend its lead to seven at 36-29 on a three-pointer, and would eventually head into the locker room up 36-31.

After the intermission, the Toros would slowly chip away at the deficit until Brittney Blankenship’s long range bomb at the 15-minute mark would give CSUDH the lead at 41-39.

With 13:56 on the clock and the Toros up 45-44, it would be showtime for Bennett.

Bennett would nail five threes over the next eight minutes of play, with the last one falling at the 4:30 mark to put the Toros up 17 at 72-55.

Mallory Avila’s eight free throws in the final two minutes would keep the ‘Lopes at bay, as CSUDH turned the five-point halftime deficit into a 19-point blowout.

In addition to Bennett’s game high of 15 points, Blankenship would drop 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds while Liang and Avila would chip in 11 points apiece in the win.

News & Notes

• Double-edged sword: For most teams, getting to the free throw line is a way to put some easy points on the scoreboard and get opponent's main players off the floor due to foul trouble. However, for the Toros this season, the so-called “charity stripe” has not been so kind to Toro shooters.

Through the first four games this season, the good news is that CSUDH has gotten to the free throw line 118 times, while allowing opponents only 68 trips. The bad news, however, is that the Toros are only shooting 62.7% from the free throw line, only making 74 of the 118 attempts.

• Rewarded for her efforts: Guard Unique Bennett was rewarded for her second-half long range shooting display against GCU by being named Wilson/California Collegiate Athletic Association Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 4-10.

Bennett would nail five three-pointers in a span of eight minutes to help the Toros turn a 36-29 halftime deficit into an 84-65 win on over GCU on Friday. She was 5-for-8 from the field, connected on 5-of-6 three-point attempts and grabbed two rebounds with an assist and a steal against the Antelopes.

500+: Junior guard Brittney Blankenship has surpassed the half century milestone for points scored after last week’s performance, scoring 510 points in 54 games played in her career. The Palmdale native showed her abilities early, scoring 10 points and pulling down six boards in her Toro debut against Mesa State on 11/11/04. Blankenship would then explode for 25 points and eight rebounds in her CCAA debut two games later against San Francisco State on 12/3/04.

About The Next Two Weeks’ Foes

• No. 22 UC San Diego Tritons 2-1, 1-1 CCAA
  After starting the season with an 86-82 road victory over Northwest Nazarene, the Tritons headed home to play host to the two-time defending CCAA Champions Chico State.

In a battle between the 2005-06 CCAA Champions (Chico State) and the predicted 2006-07 CCAA Champions (UC San Diego), the one-game tune up would not appear to be enough for UCSD to overcome the nationally ranked Wildcats, as the Tritons’ fell 76-69, despite a 30-point performance Leora Juster.

UCSD would out-shoot CSUC from the field, 46.6% to 43.5%, but the Wildcats held a 43-35 rebounding advantage and hit nine three-point shots to the Tritons four.

The Tritons would exploded the next night, to the misfortune of Cal State Stanislaus, destroying the Warriors 97-57.

Juster would lead five Tritons in double figures with 18 points, while as a team, UCSD would shoot 59.6% from the field while holding CSUS to a 31.3 field goal percentage.

Other Tritons in double figures would be Hillary Hansen (17), Meaghan Noud (14), Michelle Osier (11), and Alexis Gaskin (10).

In addition to All-American, West Region MVP, and 2005-06 CCAA Player of the Year in Juster returning, the Tritons also return 2nd-Team All-Region, 1st-Team All-CCAA and CCAA Freshman of the Year Michelle Osier and 2nd-Team All CCAA selection Hillary Hansen.

• Notre Dame de Namur Argonauts 0-7, 0-0 PacWest
  The 2006-07 season has not been a friendly one as the Argonauts have dropped every game this season thus far.

During their current seven-game losing streak, NDDN has been out-scored 545-396, for a -28.3 scoring margin.

Last week the Argonauts took on Humboldt State and Northwest Nazarene in the North Coast Inn Classic hosted by Humboldt State.

Against the ‘Jacks Ramona Vae would lead the offense with 12 points and 10 rebounds off the bench while Darice Murray chipped in 10 points in the effort.

As at team, NDDN would commit 25 turnovers and hit only 2-of-10 three point shots, while being out-rebounded, 42-37.

The next night against Northwest Nazarene, NDDN would be close at the intermission, only down five at 30-25, but would not be able to tighten up the defense in the second half, allowing NN to scored 52 points to turn the game into a blowout.

Jennifer Dreessen would be the lone Argonaut in double figures with 13 points.

The Argonauts would again struggle to keep hold of the basketball, committing 37 turnovers.

Due to the turnovers, NDDN would only be able to launch 47 shot attempts to Northwest Nazarene’s 73, and would be out rebounded on the offensive end 16-7.