CSUDH Women's Basketball Weekly
January 8, 2006

This Release in PDF

This Week’s Opponents:

• @ Cal State Bakersfield (1/12)
• @ Cal State L.A. (1/13)

Recapping Last Week
After being down at intermission, the Toros would rally to beat Sonoma State, 56-51, on Thursday, only to drop their first CCAA meeting against Humboldt State, 81-70.

Sonoma State would get off to a solid start behind the first-half play of sophomore Heidi Mertle’s 10 points and eight rebounds, and after a 10-2 spurt over the final five minutes of the half made it 32-26 SSU at the break.

The Toros would come out charging in the second half, rolling out 18 consecutive points over the first six plus minutes. Brigayle Iglehart would lead the way with 12 of those points, pushing CSUDH’s lead to 44-32.

SSU would cut into the lead with three-pointers by Lauren Redfield, however, as close as the Seawolves got, they couldn’t overcome the Toros as a pair of Aujaneé Baldwin free throws iced it in the final seconds.

Iglehart led the Toros with 20 points while Ennisha Kyles chipped in 11 rebounds.

Two days later, Humboldt started the game hot, and jumped to a 34-20 lead at the 6:47 mark of the half.

The ‘Jacks would go cold while the Toros picked up their play and went on a 17-0 run to take a 37-34 lead into the break.

HSU would slowly chip away at the Toros’ lead, and a trey by Jennifer Enos would knot the game at 51-51 at the 9:38 mark. Moments later the ‘Jacks took a 54-52 lead on a three pointer by Mia Spasowska and never looked back.

Jessica Liang led the offense with 17 points while sophomore Aujaneé Baldwin chipped in 12 points in the effort.

News & Notes
Sharp shooting to the top of the nation: In addition to leading the CCAA in three-point field-goal percentage, the Toros are currently ranked 8th in the nation with a long range shooting percentage of 39.8.

LeMoyne-Owen college currently leads the nation with a three-point field-goal percentage of 46.3%.

Humboldt State and Chico State are the only other CCAA school ranked in the top 50, checking in at numbers 17 and 23, respectively.

Leading the way is junior sharp-shooter Jessica Liang, who currently sits 34th in three-point field-goals made per game (2.6) and 60th in three-point field-goal percentage (39.1%).

Giving it a group effort: A major change is this year’s squad is the lack of a dominant scorer, like a Tameka Blue or Zipporah Chase in years past.

Instead, the Toros are using a group effort to score points and win games. The Toros have had six different players lead the team in scoring and currently only have two players averaging in double figures in Jessica Liang (11.3 ppg) and Brigayle Iglehart (11.1 ppg), while junior Alana Bailey is next on the list with 9.1 ppg. Altogether, these three only account for 31.5 of the 65.9 points per game that the Toros are averaging.

The rest of the points are spread out throughout the roster, with two players averaging six points a game and three players averaging four points a game.

In addition, the Toros have had eight different players score in double figures, so their opponents can never really be sure of where the offense is going to come from.

Mini milestones for Browne: Senior role player Ree Browne has passed the 100 career rebounds and 150 career point marks this season.

Entering this season Browne had 84 rebounds and 130 points, and after her six boards this past weekend, the lone senior now has 101 in her career, while earlier this season Browne also notched her 150th point.

This season Browne has made the most of her opportunities, scoring eight points and pulling down three boards in six minutes against Cal State Stanislaus and scoring six points with four rebounds against Sonoma State in only 10 minutes on the floor.

About This Week’s Foes

• CS Bakersfield Roadrunners (7-5, 4-1 CCAA) The Roadrunners are coming off a road split last weekend, first beating Cal State Stanislaus 85-70 on Friday before falling to the nationally ranked Chico State Wildcats 62-70 on Saturday.

  Against the Warriors the Roadrunners scored the first eight points and never looked back

  Jessi Loring led four Roadrunners in double figures with 20 points. Florida Siaosi added a double–double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Rhonda Johnson and Kelley Tarver chipped in 19 and 15 points, respectively.

  The next night the Roadrunners took a 30-24 lead at the half, but the Wildcats caught fire to open the second frame, and used a 11-0 run to take a 36-30 lead.

  The Roadrunners retook the lead twice in the second half, but trailing 64-60, Siaosi missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity and Chico made its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.

  Siaosi would lead the offense with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Krista Arase and Loring added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

  Although the game featured a seven lead changes and wasn’t decided until the final minute, both teams played below what would normally be expected from a pair of squads that split the last four CCAA championships. Each team turned the ball over 27 times, with 31 total unforced turnovers.

• Cal State L.A. Golden Eagles (3-7, 1-4 CCAA) After falling to Chico State 79-54 on Friday, the Golden Eagles rebounded to capture their first conference win of the season, beating Cal State Stanislaus 73-69.

  Chico State controlled the game from the tip off, building an 11-point lead less than five minutes into the game. The Golden Eagles got as close as nine points, 25-16, with five minutes remaining in the half, but the ‘Cats finished out the half with a 16-8 run to lead by 17 at the break, 41-24.

  The Wildcats built their advantage to 22 points early in the second half and cruised to the 25-point win. In their last four games, the Wildcats have outscored their opponents by an average of 34 points.

  Amber Fause’s 11 points led the Golden Eagles, while De’Anna Baldwin and Amber Wittington added 10 points apiece.

  The next night CSULA would find themselves trailing 35-34 at the intermission, but would pull ahead for good after a pair of Fatimah Stokley free throws at the 15:08 mark of the second half.

  For the Golden Eagles it was Amber Fause leading the way with 18 points, while teammates Rosalyn Omoruyi added 13 and De’Anna Baldwin had 11.

  Cal State L.A. held a slight advantage shooting, making 49.9 percent (23-for-49) of its shots from the field compared to the Warriors’ 40.4 (23-for-57).