By Joseph Rodriguez, Feb. 7, 2023
The Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team lost their conference game against Cal State East Bay 58-46.
Broncos head coach Danelle Bishop spoke about the message to her team after a fourth consecutive loss.
“Our adversity is how we handle it and show up every day,” said Bishop. “We’re pretty big on being a family and on the court today was not a true reflection of what that family is actually like.”
The Broncos came out to a slow start, scoring only six points in the first quarter. Cal State East Bay took advantage of frequent scoreless possessions from their opponent by getting an array of defensive rebounds which led to transition buckets.
Turnovers were an issue for the Broncos in the beginning of the game as well, which helped the Pioneers take a 17-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Sophomore guard Sydney Fedinec spoke about the impact of turnovers and poor transition defense.
“Transition defense hurt us,” said Fedinec. “It was really off of our turnovers. Turnovers for us that turned into their points on the offensive end.”
The second quarter is where the Broncos put their foot down and established themselves in this game. CPP was able to connect on four 3-pointers in the quarter which all occurred during a 14-0 run over the Pioneers.
Broncos guard Reina Sausedo capped off her team’s second quarter hot streak with a 3-pointer to take the lead 22-21 with 2:37 to go in the half. Unfortunately, Cal State East Bay was able to quickly answer back with three points of their own and reclaim the lead.
CPP finished the half down by four and were able to outscore the Pioneers 16-9 in the second quarter despite shooting 25% from the field and only having one trip to the free throw line.
When it came to offensive struggles for the Broncos, Fedinec spoke about her team’s poor shooting.
I mean, yeah, we’re all going to have nights like that,” said Fedinec. “I’m sure that our top scorers aren’t gonna have many games that they miss that many shots or all around that people are going to miss that many shots.”
The second half trended towards the Pioneers as they were able to jump out to a fast start, gaining a 10-point lead four minutes into the third quarter.
Despite another strong offensive output from the Pioneers in the quarter, the Broncos were able to keep the game within reach. East Bay gave Pomona many looks which the Broncos were able to capitalize and bring the game within seven points going into the fourth quarter.
The Broncos made it tough for the Pioneers for most of the fourth quarter keeping the game close. Still, Cal State East Bay hit timely shots and got stops when needed.
Broncos senior guard Chynna Cochran spoke about the team’s offensive struggles for the game. “Offensively we were all kind of off tonight,” said Cochran. “Our shooters and our scorers didn’t have the best game tonight and that’s going to happen. I think just overall we weren’t playing together.”
With two minutes to go in the game, the Broncos had multiple defensive lapses as the Pioneers sealed the game with easy buckets in the paint and multiple trips to the free-throw line.
Pioneer guard Delia Moore connected on three shots from beyond the arc and finished the contest with a game-high 16 points, shooting 50% from the field.
Cal State East Bay’s Jaela Richardson, daughter of former NBA veteran Jason Richardson, proved to be too much for the Broncos and finished with a double-double and a game-high 14 rebounds.
On paper, the Broncos are not looking to be a major contender in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, but this is still a very promising team with great talent and team chemistry.
Cal Poly Pomona are 12-8 overall and are still maintaining a spot in the conference tournament as the fifth seed. The Broncos next game will be against the sixth ranked team in the country, Cal State Dominguez Hills, who only have one loss on the year.
CPP is going to need a spark if they still want to be in contention come March.
Feature image courtesy of CPP Athletics