LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's women's basketball team completed a masterful home schedule with another win in University Gym Saturday night and learned its opponent for its first-round California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Tournament game on Tuesday.
The Golden Eagles held off Cal State San Marcos, 68-66, in a tense game on Senior Night that ended the regular season. Cal State LA (15-13, 12-8 CCAA) finished with a 10-1 home record after the win over the Cougars (13-12, 10-10 CCAA). Cal State LA wrapped up the No. 5 seed for the CCAA Tournament and will travel to Turlock for a 7 p.m. first-round game against Stanislaus State.
Cal State LA used a balanced scoring attack to get the victory.
Samantha Lee, the lone senior on the young Golden Eagles team, led the team with 14 points and was one of four players in double figures.
Christine Delapina had 12 points, six rebounds and seven assists,
Rachael DiRegolo had a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double and
Marina LaPuzza had 10 points, six rebounds and two assists.
Ashley Jenkins had 17 points for Cal State San Marcos, while Chloe Eackles had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Rikke Fabricius had nine points and two assists, while
Sacha Griffin had eight points, two rebounds and two assists for the Golden Eagles.
Rebeccah DiRegolo had five points and eight rebounds.
Cal State LA shot 44.9 percent (22-of-49) and was 3-of-10 from 3-point range. Lee, who leads the team with 62 made 3-pointers, had two of them, while Delapina had one. Cal State San Marcos shot 36.9 percent (24-of-65) and was 5-of-12 from 3-point range. Cal State LA was 21-of-34 from the free-throw line, while Cal State San Marcos was 13-of-18. Both teams had 40 rebounds.
The game was close throughout and neither team could build a lead larger than eight points in the contest.
Cal State LA had trouble getting going and trailed by as many as eight points in the second quarter before tying the game at halftime, 34-34. A layup by
Rebeccah DiRegolo with an assist from Delapina gave the Golden Eagles a 48-44 lead heading into the fourth period. A basket by Savannah Camp gave the Cougars a 49-48 lead with 7:37 to go and the Cougars still had a 51-49 lead with seven minutes remaining after a jumper by Dee Armenta.
A layup by Fabricius, though, tied it and a 3-pointer by Lee untied it and three straight free throws - one by Fabricius and two by Delapina - put the Golden Eagles ahead, 57-51. Cal State LA had a 64-57 lead after a pair of free throws by LaPuzza with 34 seconds to go, but 3-pointers by Jenkins and Eackles helped the Cougars slice the deficit to 65-63 with 26 seconds to go. Delapina hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to 67-63, but Armenta was fouled trying to hit a 3-pointer and made all three free throws to make it 67-66 with six seconds to go. Fabricius made one free throw to make it 68-66 and the Golden Eagles defended well enough to prevent a final shot.
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