CSUDH Women's Basketball Weekly
January 30, 2006

This Release in PDF

This Week’s Opponents:

• @ Chico State (2/2)
• @ Cal State Stanislaus (2/3)

Recapping Last Week
Against San Francisco State CSUDH placed four players in double figures to come away with the 67-52 win over the Gators.

The first half was a back and forth affair with neither team able to take control of the game. However the Toros would be able to battle to a 30-27 lead heading into the locker room.

CSUDH began the second half with a 19-6 scoring run, led by Alana Bailey’s 12 points, to take a 49-33 lead and cruise to a 15 point win. The Toros shot 54% from the field in the second half, while the Gators struggled, shooting 14% against a tough Toros defense.

The Toros were led by Bailey and her 19 points and 8 rebounds. Brittney Blankenship added 12 points and 9 boards, while Brigayle Iglehart and Jessica Liang chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The previous night, Blankenship’s 16 points led four Toros in double-figure scoring as CSUDH pulled out a tense 66-60 win over host Cal State Monterey Bay.

The hosts raced to a quick 10-2 lead to open the game, before Blankenship’s 4-for-7 effort at the free throw line helped narrow the gap, allowing a Jessica Liang bucket at 6:24 to give CSUDH its first lead of the contest at 15-14.

CSUMB regained its shooting touch, and the lead, just a minute and a half later, until a Liang long-range make knotted the contest at 22-22. A 7-0 Toro run closed the first-half scoring, giving CSUDH a 29-22 advantage.

CSUDH kept the Otters at arm’s length as the second half opened, only to have the hosts claw their way back and knot the contest at 35-35 on a Denisha Profit lay-up at 16:36. After tying twice more over the next minute and a half, a Liang 3-pointer gave the Toros a 42-41 lead at 14:42, and an Aujaneé Baldwin lay-up three minutes later secured CSUDH’s lead for good.

A Baldwin free throw and an Alana Bailey bucket gave the Toros breathing room, only to see the Otters pull to within two points on three occasions. But the Toros hit their final 12 free throw attempts down the stretch to secure the six-point win, as Michelle Kribell, Blankenship and Brigayle Iglehart helped guide the Toros to winning their third game in four tries.

In addition to Blankenship’s 16 points, Liang chipped in 12 points while Kribell and Bailey added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

News & Notes
Finally taking advantage of Charity: Through the first 12 games this season, the so-called “Charity Stripe” was not too kind to the Toros, with CSUDH shooting a dismal 62.0% (147-for-237).

However, over the past three games, the Toros are shooting 85% (51-60) from the free throw line and finally taking advantage of the easy points.

Brittney Blankenship has been leading the charge, getting to the line 23 times and converting 19. As a result, Blankenship’s scoring averaged has jumped from 7.3 points per game through the first 12 games of the season to 12.3 over the last three games, while her free throw percentage has jumped from 64.1% to 82.6%.

Anther side effect of the better free throw shooting is that the Toros have averaged 65.2 points per game over the past three games, compared to 59.7 in the first 12, and the Toros scoring margin has increased by nearly three points per game as well.

Welcome back killer bs: Last season Alana Bailey and Brittney Blankenship were 2/3 of the “Killer Bs,” along with departed senior Tameka Blue. However, this season the duo has not really performed well together in the same game.

That changed this past weekend, with the duo finally getting things going, as each averaged over 14 points and five rebounds a game.

Bailey arguably had her best weekend series of the year with 10 points and eight rebounds against Cal State Monterey Bay, and 19 points and eight rebounds against San Francisco State. The Altadena native also shot 63 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free throw line, while only playing 26 minutes a game.

Blankenship nearly mirrored the work of Bailey, scoring 16 points and pulling down three boards against Cal State Monterey Bay, scoring 12 points with eight rebounds against San Francisco State.

Prediction vs. Reality: So far it seems as though the coaches knew what they were doing when voting on the preseason conference poll, with nearly every team within one place of where they were predicted to finish.

And even with the Toros’ inconsistent play thus far, the Toros currently sit in a tie for 5th place with Cal State San Bernardino, while being predicted to finish 4th.

The lone exception thus far is cross town rival Cal State L.A., as the Golden Eagles were predicted to finish 5th, but currently sit second to last with only one conference win.

About This Week’s Foes

• No. 6 Chico State Wildcats 14-2, 10-2 CCAA
  Chico State is coming off a split last weekend, taking a 50-49 win over Sonoma State before dropping a 90-82 conetst to Humboldt State, snapping its 11-game winning streak.

  The Wildcats would have a tough time breaking away from the Seawolves, capturing just a 48-46 lead with 2:50 remaining in the game.

  SSU would get the ball and fail to convert on its next possession and the Wildcats would miss three consecutive shots, but pull down the offensive board every time and burn time off the clock.

  The Seawolves would get the ball back still down two with a minute remaining, but would not be able to convert while Amber Simmons would make a layup to put the game away for CSUC.

  Simmons led the way with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

  The next night the Wildcats could not contain the hot-shooting ‘Jacks of Humboldt State, who scorched the Wildcats, by shooting 57% (27-for-47) from the field, 59% (10-for-17) from 3-point range, and hitting 26 free throws to come away with the upset.

  CSUC would be in the game late down 69-66 with 7:26 remaining. However, the ‘Jacks would proceed to go on a 12-1 run to put the game away.

  Simmons and Simons would share team-high scoring honors with 25 points apiece, while Audriana Spencer chipped in 12 points in the effort.

• CS Stanislaus Warriors 4-12, 1-11 CCAA
  Cal State Stanislaus is coming off a pair of losses to Humboldt State (70-57) and Sonoma State (68-57), and has lost of seven of its last eight.

  CSUS would put up a fight earlier against HSU by taking 6-5 lead at the 15-minute mark, but the ‘Jacks would quickly take and hold the lead for the rest of the half.

  After intermission, the Warriors would cut the ‘Jack lead to just five on a trey by Shristy Kumar with 18:53 on the clock, but that would be as close as CSUS would come for the rest of the game.

  Kumar and Gwendolyn Page would share team-high scoring honors with 12 points apiece. Karaya Gage would be the third Warrior to score in double figures with 11 points.

  The following night against the Seawolves the two teams would tie five times over the first 12 minutes before SSU would be able to break away with a 20-7 run to take a 37-24 lead going into the break.

  In the second half the Warriors would cut the deficit to just seven points at 48-41 with just over 12-minutes on the clock, but SSU would not let CSUS get any closer for the rest of the game.

  Page once again led the Warriors with 16 points, while Gage and Lysandra Williams were also in double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively.