Women’s basketball overcame a slow start and defeated Stanislaus State 69-65 Thursday night at Kellogg Arena. The win helped the Broncos improve their overall record to 21-4 and conference record to 17-3.
The Broncos were led by junior forward Monica Todd, who had an impressive night shooting the ball, going 5-for-6 from the field. She recorded 14 points and contributed 11 rebounds and five steals.
“Tonight, I think I played well, I could have played better especially on the offensive side,” Todd said. “I was getting tired of missing the ball when I shouldn’t have and tonight I was focusing on squaring my shoulders and just finishing at the rim every chance I got.”
Two minutes into the first quarter the Broncos struggled shooting the ball and the Warriors got on the scoreboard first with a 3-pointer and a layup. The Broncos quickly responded with back-to-back baskets from Todd and junior guard Lauryn Catching, that brought them within one point of the Warriors.
As the clock winded down in the first quarter, both teams continued the poor shooting and only made two baskets in the last two minutes.
Stanislaus State made the final shot of the quarter that gave them the lead going into the second quarter.
Early in the second, CPP’s shooting struggles continued as the team was not able to get on the board until Todd was fouled and went to the line where she knocked down both free throws.
Moments later, the Warriors took advantage of the Broncos’ struggles and went on an 8-2 run.
Despite the Warriors’ run, CPP finally got hot shooting the ball as it went on an impressive 15-2 run to end the quarter. The Broncos led 27-23 at the half.
“I thought they did a great job, we came in and our first group held them to only 23 points in the first half, our bench came in confident and that’s what we need them to do, so I was really happy about that,” coach Danelle Bishop said.
Starting the third quarter, the Broncos continued with the hot hand as they quickly got on the board with two free throws from Todd and a 3-pointer from junior guard Dominique Dotson.
Stanislaus State answered with hot shooting with a 7-0 run that brought the Warriors within two points of the Broncos.
Later in the quarter, the Broncos extended their lead by five thanks to a 3-pointer from junior forward Rebecca Islas but the Warriors answered with an 8-0 run that gave them the lead 40-37 for the first time in the second half.
To end the quarter, the Broncos answered with a jumper from Islas that gave them the lead once again by one point going into the final quarter.
Freshman guard Jayda Villareal was one of four Broncos with double digits in scoring, putting up 13 points in 15 minutes.
“I made the most of the minutes that I got. I know my role and I shoot so I made sure I was not playing out of my role, so I just did what I had to do to get the win,” Villareal said.
During the first couple minutes of the fourth, both teams continued with the hot hand as they exchanged shots back and forth. Nearly halfway into the fourth, senior guard Jordyn Shane nailed back-to-back 3-pointers that helped the Broncos go up by four points.
Midway through the quarter, the Warriors took the lead by one with back-to-back baskets. Moments later, the Broncos answered when Shane dished the ball to junior forward Kasey Smit, who knocked down a three. With time running out, Villareal knocked down back-to-back baskets that helped the Broncos extend their lead by six.
The Warriors attempted a late comeback with a late 3-pointer but two free throws from Smit helped seal the 68-65 win for the Broncos.
As the Broncos are now in the last week of the season, they will host Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday and Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday. Both games are set to tip off at 5:30 p.m.