SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The Chico State Wildcats came up short in their bid for a second straight CCAA tournament championship, and hopes of reaching the West Regionals for a seventh straight season all but vanished Friday afternoon as the ’Cats fell to Cal State Dominguez Hills 74-61 in the semi-finals of the CCAA Championship Tournament at Coussoulis Arena on the campus of Cal State San Bernardino.
Dominguez Hills jumped out to an early lead and kept Chico State off the scoreboard until Natasha Smith nailed a 3-pointer with 15:20 left in the first half. With the score 7-5, the Toros went on an 8-0 run to push the lead to 10. The Wildcats responded by scoring six unanswered points on two Synchro Bull buckets and a Cory Edwards layup to make it a 15-11 game. Dominguez Hills slowly built the lead back up to 10, but Smith buried a trey before the end of the first half to whittle the Toros’ advantage down to seven, and Dominguez Hills went into the locker room with a 32-25 lead.
Chico State scored the first basket of the second half to make it a five point game, but the Toros proceeded to rip off 16 of the next 22 points to go up 48-33. Melissa Richardson, shut out in the first half, hit a layup and a 3-pointer to pull the Wildcats to within 10, but once again Dominguez went on a big run, outscoring the ’Cats 13-4 to take a commanding 61-42 lead. Chico State fought back, slicing the Toros lead to nine (a pair of Richardson 3-pointers and four Christine Vest free throws keyed a 12-2 run to make the score 63-54 with three minutes to play), but that was as close as the Wildcats would get, as Ennisha Kyles and Whittney Gantt combined for nine points down the stretch to push the Dominguez Hills lead back to double digits…Chico State’s comeback hopes (and most likely its season) eventually ran out as the Toros prevailed 74-61.
Richardson led the Wildcats with 18 points – all in the second half – while Renee Goldoff poured in 12 points and Smith chipped in with 11, but it wasn’t enough to keep Chico State from falling to 16-13 on the season. Neka Mixon scored all of her 13 points in the second half and added six rebounds and five assists to pace Dominguez Hills, who with Friday’s win improved to 20-9 overall…the Toros now advance to Saturday’s CCAA Championship Tournament final.
The Wildcats will find out Sunday if they are one of the eight Western Region schools to earn an NCAA Division II tournament bid, but having started the week ranked ninth in the West, the chances are very remote that Chico State will see any more action this season.
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