SEASIDE -- Cal State LA's women's basketball team rallied from a 15-point deficit to make things very interesting Friday night at Cal State Monterey Bay, but wound up on the short end of an overtime decision.
The Golden Eagles stormed back to take a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter and a four-point lead late in overtime, only to see the Otters respond with some big 3-pointers and timely free-throw shooting to take a 75-50 California Collegiate Athletic Association victory in the Kelp Bed. It was a costly loss for Cal State LA (8-15, 6-11 CCAA), which slipped into a tie for eighth place with San Francisco State in the conference standings, just one game ahead of Chico State and 1 1/2 games ahead of Cal State Monterey Bay (9-16, 5-13 CCAA). The top eight teams qualify for the CCAA Championships.
Bree Parsons had a game-high 21 points and three rebounds to lead three Golden Eagles in double figures.
Franeka Hall had 19 points and nine rebounds,
Rikke Fabricius had 14 points and eight rebounds.
Christine Delapina had nine points, seven rebounds and five assists. Victoria Dorn and McKenna Hill had 18 points each and hit some big 3-pointers down the stretch. Stephanie Sack had 16 points.
Cal State LA shot 37.1 percent for the game (23-of-62) and made only 2-of-9 in the overtime. The Golden Eagles also made just 6-of-19 from 3-point range. Cal State Monterey Bay shot 34.8 percent (23-of-66), but made 12-of-22 from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles were 18-of-26 from the free-throw line, while the Otters were 17-of-25. Both teams had 45 rebounds, while Cal State LA committed 23 turnovers to 20 for the Otters.
The Golden Eagles started slowly and found themselves in a 15-point hole midway through the second quarter. The Golden Eagles sliced the lead to 35-32 after a 3-pointer by Parsons and eventually trailed at halftime, 39-32.
The Golden Eagles started the third quarter slowly as well and found themselves trailing, 45-32, before finding their footing. A three-point play by Fabricius closed the gap to 46-43 and two free throws by Parsons made it 46-45 before the Otters scored late to take a 48-45 lead into the fourth quarter.
A 3-pointer by Hall tied it at 50-50 and then Hall made a jumper to give the Golden Eagles a 52-50 lead. Two free throws by
Geena Greene broke a 52-52 left, but Dorn hit a 3-pointer to put the Otters back ahead. Delapina's layup put the Golden Eagles ahead, 56-55 and two free throws by Fabricius made it 58-55 with 1:28 to go. Dorn, though, hit another 3-pointer to tie it before Parsons hit a go-ahead 3-pointer for the Golden Eagles to make it 61-58 with 59 seconds left.
Hill hit a 3-pointer for the Otters to tie it again at 61-61and send the game into overtime.
Hall made a layup to break a 63-63 tie and then hit a 3-pointer to give the Golden Eagles a 68-64 lead with 2:02 to go in overtime. Dorn's 3-pointer started a game-changing 7-0 run for the Otters. Delapina hit two free throws to get the Golden Eagles to within 71-70 with 26 seconds to go, but the Otters hit a free throw and then got a big offensive rebound of a missed free throw to help put the game away.
Cal State LA will return to action on Saturday with a road game at Cal State East Bay.
