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LA JOLLA -- It was Hammer Time in RIMAC Arena as Cal State L.A.'s women's basketball team got a last-second 3-pointer from Lorin Hammer to advance to the California Collegiate Athletic Association championship game.

Hammer hit a running 3-pointer from about 40 feet away to lift the No. 6 seed Golden Eagles past No. 1-ranked UC San Diego, 77-76, in a CCAA semi-final Friday night. The Golden Eagles will now play Cal State Monterey Bay for the conference tournament title and the conference's automatic NCAA playoff berth. Cal State L.A. will be after the program's first conference tournament title. The Golden Eagles haven't reached a CCAA tournament title game since 1991 and it will be the program's third-ever title game appearance. This marks the first time Cal State L.A. has won two conference tournament games in the same year. The last time the Golden Eagles reached the finals only four teams qualified for the tourney.

Cal State L.A. also has its sights now set on its first NCAA playoff appearance since 2006. The Golden Eagles were ranked ninth in the final regular-season rankings released on Wednesday, but have since beaten No. 6 Cal Poly Pomona and No. 1 UC San Diego.

Lacy Ramon, who earned first-team All-CCAA honors earlier in the week, had a powerful game with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Tessondra Williams had 13 points, while Jazzi Johnson and Alisha Belt scored 10 points each. UC San Diego was led by Daisy Feder's 22 points. Chelsea Carlisle had 19 points, while Emily Osga and Erin Dautremont had 13 points.

The Golden Eagles trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, but narrowed the gap to eight points by halftime and then engaged the Tritons in a back-and-forth battle during the second half. Cal State L.A. (18-10) had lost to UC San Diego (28-2) twice during the regular season, but certainly gained confidence by giving the Tritons fits in a game at RIMAC Arena on Feb. 3. In that contest, the Golden Eagles trailed by just two points with four minutes to play before the Tritons pulled away down the stretch.

This time, the Golden Eagles were in it until the end. Cal State L.A., which was out-rebounded by large margins in its two losses to the Tritons, held a 42-36 edge in that department on Friday. The Golden Eagles also took care of the ball better, committing 16 turnovers while forcing the Tritons into 18. Ramon led the team with 10 rebounds, while Maryum Jenkins had nine big rebounds and Alisha Belt had six.

Cal State L.A. shot 44.4 percent (32-of-72) and limited UC San Diego to 43.1 percent (25-of-58). The Golden Eagles also prevailed despite UC San Diego holding a big edge at the free-throw line. The Tritons were 19-of-27, while the Golden Eagles were just 9-of-13.

The Golden Eagles trailed for the entire first half and found themselves down by 12, 38-26. Baskets by Johnson and Belt cut the deficit to single-digits and a late layup by Hammer made it 40-32 at halftime.

Cal State L.A. opened the second half with a 13-4 run to get itself right back into the game. Ramon hit back-to-back baskets to make it 45-44 and a Johnson layup tied it at 48-48 with 15:35 to go.

The Golden Eagles took their first lead on a layup by Williams, 52-51, with 13:30 remaining and got the lead to 54-51 on a Ramon basket with 13 minutes to play.

Cal State L.A. took its biggest lead, 68-61, on a basket by Ramon with 5:45 to go. The Tritons countered by scoring the next seven points to tie it before a Ramon free throw gave the Golden Eagles a 69-68 lead.

UC San Diego scored the next five points to take a 73-69 lead, but Lacey Gibbons hit a big 3-pointer with 2:23 to go and Jenkins scored on a layup to put the Golden Eagles ahead, 74-73, with 1:58 remaining. The lead didn't last long, though, because Osga made a layup to put the Tritons back on top, 75-74, with 1:51 left.

The defenses took over from there until Osga hit a free throw to make it 76-74 with four seconds left and setting the stage for Hammer's dramatics. She entered the game as a substitution, took an inbounds pass and dribbled up the left side. Despite heavy pressure, her long shot was true and the Golden Eagles had the stunning win.

Cal State L.A. will face Cal State Monterey Bay in the title game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The two teams split games during the regular-season, each winning on its home court.