By Jacob Rodriguez, March 18, 2025
Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team lost to Cal State Dominguez Hills 77-54 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament finals March 8, which stung after recording a 73-61 victory over Chico State in the semifinals.
Finishing the regular season with a 19-3 conference record, the No. 2 seed Broncos face the No.3 seed Chico State Wildcats in the semifinals March 7. The winner of the match will advance to face No. 1 Cal State Dominguez Hills in the CCAA final.
The Broncos fell into a scoring slump during the first five minutes of the game, as the Wildcats took a commanding 11-2 lead, but sophomore forward Sydney Nelson sparked some life into the Broncos offense, hitting two layups followed by another layup from guard Cookie Marques to cut the Wildcats lead to 15-8 by the end of the first quarter.
The Broncos continued their momentum into the second quarter when guard Breanne Ha sank two free throws within the first minute.
Despite Wildcats guard Kamil Reid banking a layup, the Broncos quickly responded when sophomore guard Brielle Minor threw an overhead pass, allowing junior guard Alexis Woodson to hit a layup, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to 17-12.
The Broncos kept chipping away at the Wildcats’ lead over the next three minutes, going on a 6-2 run with jumpers from Nelson and Woodson, followed by a pair of free throws to cut the lead 22-18.
Nelson and Marques hit a pair of layups to tie the game at 22-22 with three minutes left in the second quarter.
However, the Broncos ran into foul trouble at the two-minute mark. The Wildcats shot 8-8 from the free throw line despite Ha’s 3-pointer, and a free throw made by sophomore forward Mydrea Moore brought the Wildcat’s 30-26 into halftime.
Marques highlighted the team’s determination to not let the game slip away from them, punctuated by Marques’ 13 points and four rebounds game in her playoff debut.
“In the beginning, they (Chico State) were winning the majority of the first half, but we just kept fighting,” Marques said. “During halftime we band together like this is it. You know, this is the last few games for some of our seniors, and we have to give everything that we have.”
Both teams traded points with the Wildcat’s going on a 7-4 run through the first three minutes of the third quarter.
Both sides imposed their fast-paced offenses, with CPP shooting 10-16 from the field compared to the Wildcats’ 5-13 from the field, increasing the Wildcats’ lead 37-30.
The Broncos chipped away at the lead, paving the way for their comeback bid with Moore working her way into the paint to sink a layup opening the scoring for the Broncos.
Nelson also continued her dominant performance, driving down the paint to hit a layup followed by a jumper amidst a back-and-forth battle that saw the Broncos trail 41-36 with five minutes left in the third quarter.
Broncos head coach Danelle Bishop highlighted the defense as a key factor after as CPP collected 41 rebounds, four blocks, and six steals.
“They’re (Chico State) a really good scoring team and were top two in the conference,” Bishop said. “We knew that we had to get stops down the stretch, which we did, so we had key defensive stops and slowed a couple of key players down offensively, so that was huge for us.”
Although the fourth quarter started with Minor sinking a 3-pointer, the Wildcats responded with a 3-pointer from guard Jordan Allred bringing the Broncos’ lead to 50-46.
Neither team would score again until 7:19, when Nelson stole the ball from Wildcats’ guard Kaila Woo driving down into the paint to sink a layup. Nelson recorded a double-digit performance, scoring 29 points, five rebounds, one block, and one steal.
The Broncos scored 20 points coming off the bench compared to the Wildcats’ 12 to secure a 73-61 victory and advance to the CCAA Tournament finals to face Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Both the Broncos and the Toros got off to a fast start, trading points and tying the score 4-4 through the first two minutes of play.
Despite the Broncos’ strong start, the Toros quickly began to pull ahead starting with a 3-pointer from Toros guard Nala Williams and two layups to give the Toros an 11-4 lead.
Through the next three minutes of play, the Broncos continued to struggle finding the net, even with senior guard Kalaya Buggs’s two free throws that cut the Toros’ lead to 11-6.
Despite Toros guard Asia Jordan hitting a pair of jumpers and layups, Nelson quickly responded, hitting a jumper and a layup of her own as the Broncos trailed 15-8 at the end of the first quarter.
The Broncos began to chip away at the Toros’ lead, starting with Nelson’s jumper followed by a 3-pointer from Ha within the first two minutes of the second quarter, cutting the lead to 17-15.
However, Toros’ forward Cristina Jones drove down the paint at 7:14, hitting a layup sparking a back-and-forth battle over the next three minutes that ended with a 12-7 run in favor of the Toros’ with the Broncos shooting 4-11 from the field compared to the Toros’ 8-20.
The Toros outscored the Broncos 26-15, further widening the gap to 41-25 as the Broncos looked to make a comeback in the second, much like the previous matchup.
Bishop highlighted the team’s struggles on rebounding and maintaining possession of the ball as one of the main factors in their loss.
“(It) wasn’t our best game,” Bishop said. “When you’re playing one of the top teams, you’ve got to play well. We did not play our best, and it is what it is. We have to learn from it moving into this week.”
Ha and Nelson chipped away at the deficit with a pair of jumpers and a layup to cut the Toros’ lead 45-31 entering the third quarter. But the Broncos’ struggles to find rhythm on offense continued throughout the quarter, with the Toros’ imposing their dominating offense and building a 51-33 lead.
Nelson continued to will the Broncos into the fight with three free throws, followed by a jumper from redshirt freshman forward Hunter Hudson to cutting it 57-38.
The Toros wasted no time extending their lead in the fourth with two layups to add on to the 24-point gap. Nelson’s two free throws at 9:08 sparked some life into the Broncos as they continued to fight, going on an 8-7 run to cut the lead to 69-48.
However, the gap was too much to overcome, and the Toros ultimately sealed the game with a 77-54 victory to capture the CCAA title.
“I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to show out instead of just going out there and leaving it all on the floor,” Nelson said. “I think maybe the stress and the pressure of the championship game got to our head’s, but at the end of the day, we all played hard, fought and played to the best of our abilities.”
Despite the loss, Nelson earned a spot on the CCAA All-Tournament team, leading the Broncos in scoring throughout the weekend, totaling 54 points.
The Broncos’ focus is now on the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, where they will make their 30th appearance, entering as the No. 2 seed in the West Region and facing off against No. 7 seed Chico State on March 14.
Feature image courtesy of CPP Athletics
