Reigning CCAA Freshman of the Year Cristina Jones led all scorers with 25 points and 13 rebounds to help the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros women’s basketball team defeat the Azusa Pacific Cougars 77-58.
“My team, no matter what, even if I have a good game or not, they’re always there to support me,” Jones said. “Even our coaches … we can hear them always saying “we can focus on the next play” so we mess up, we just get it back on defense.”
Current CCAA Player and Defensive Player of the Year Nala Williams noted how she had been exposed to the playing style of Jones during her high school career.
“We come from the same city, Long Beach, we competes for a while in high school,” Williams said. “I already knew she was a dog defensively but watching her grow offensively, becoming a threat on the inside, has been amazing to watch.”
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Williams finished the night with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Cougars grad student forward Kelly Heimburger and junior guard Lauren Jones scored 12 points each and grad student guard Amayah Kirkman made seven rebounds.
“Having [Kirkman] and [Heimburger] has been amazing, just to see how hard they play,” said Cougars head coach T.J. Hardeman. “How they have mentored other players in the program.”
The game was close throughout the first quarter with Jones and senior forward Asia Jordan attacking the paint for Dominguez Hills. Double teams gave Azusa Pacific open looks to score. By the end of the first quarter, the game was tied at 18.
The Toro defense began to intensify in the second quarter as they began implementing a full court press. Their defense got more physical as they forced turnovers on the Cougars. Azusa was unable to score for almost four regulated minutes.
A layup from senior guard Devon Lewis with 3:02 left in regulation gave the Toros a 12-point advantage. By the half, Dominguez Hills was up 38-28.
“I’m never worried about our team offensively; they figure out a way to score. Just defensively, we had to set our imprint on the game,” said Toros head coach John Bonner. “That second quarter, we started to impose our defensive will a little bit more.”
The Toros women scored 52 points in the paint and shot at 47.06 percent from the field. They held Azusa Pacific to 33.96 percent from the field.
Dominguez Hills advances from the first round of the NCAA tournament and will compete against the University of Alaska Anchorage on March 15 at 7:30P.M.
