CCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Page

ARCATA -- Cal State LA's women's basketball team put the final touches on its pre-California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament preparations Wednesday in a spirited practice in Cal Poly Humboldt's Lumberjack Arena.

The No. 3 Golden Eagles, coming off one of the best conference seasons in program history, will face No. 6 Sonoma State in the opening game of the tournament on Thursday at noon. Cal State LA (13-12, 12-7 CCAA) used a late-season surge to finish third in the regular season, matching the best CCAA finish in program history. The Golden Eagles will be making their first CCAA Tournament appearance since 2018 and have reached the championship site for the first time since 2014.

Cal State LA picked up some All-Conference awards after Wednesday's 55-minute practice. CCAA Commissioner Mitch Cox presented Lily Buggs and Nicole Flennaugh with their first-team All-CCAA medals and then Buggs received the CCAA Freshman of the Year plaque. Buggs and Flennaugh, who won the award in 2020, are two of the three CCAA Freshmen of the Year award winners in program history.

The task at hand now is for the Golden Eagles to generate a postseason run, something that hasn't been done in years. Cal State LA is seeking its first win in the CCAA Tournament since a first-round victory over UC San Diego in Ontario in 2014. The Golden Eagles, as a No. 5 seed, rallied from a 41-23 halftime deficit to post a 60-59 win over the No. 4 Tritons. 

Since that win, Cal State LA suffered first-round losses in 2016, 2017, 2018, all as a lower seed facing a higher seed on the higher seed's home court road as part of the conference's format with an eighth-team tournament field. The Golden Eagles missed the conference playoffs in 2019 and 2020.

Cal State LA  has never been higher than a No. 3 seed in any of its 11 previous trips to the CCAA Tournament. Cal State LA was a No. 3 seed in 1991 and beat Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in a semi-final game before falling to top-seed Cal Poly Pomona in the title game. Cal State LA was also a No. 3 seed in 1988 and beat No. 2 seed Cal State Northridge in the semis, 74-63 before falling in the title game to Cal Poly Pomona.

The highlight of Cal State LA's CCAA Tournament history came in back-to-back seasons in 2012 and 2013 when the Golden Eagles reached the championship game in back-to-back years. As a No. 6 seed, the Golden Eagles beat No. 3 seed Cal Poly Pomona, 80-78, on a late layup by Maryum Jenkins in Pomona before Lorin Hammer's buzzer-beating 40-foot 3-pointer lifted the Golden Eagles past tournament host and No. 1 seed UC San Diego, 77-76, in the semis. Cal State LA then lost on a last-second basket by Cal State Monterey Bay in the title game, 71-69.

The following season, Cal State LA, as a No. 4 seed beat No. 5 seed Cal State East Bay, 67-53, in first-round game in Los Angeles and then beat No. 1 seed Chico State, 66-53, in Ontario in the semis. Cal State LA fell to No. 2 seed UC San Diego, 66-61, in the championship game after being on the wrong end of a controversial call in the final minute.

Cal State LA will be facing Sonoma State for the first time in a CCAA Tournament game. The Golden Eagles lost both regular-season games this season to the Seawolves, 69-65, on Jan. 6 in Los Angeles and again this past Saturday, 62-46, in Rohnert Park. 

The Golden Eagles, though, were hot down the stretch and went 8-2 over their last 10 conference games to climb into third.

Flennaugh leads the team and is fourth in the conference in scoring with a 15.6 points per game average, while Buggs is fifth in the conference with a 14.3 points per game average. Jada Johnson, who earned second-team All-CCAA honors on Tuesday, leads the conference in rebounding with a 10.5 rebounds per game average, while Buggs is fifth with an 8.3 per game average. Flennaugh leads the conference and is fifth in the nation in 3-pointers with 85 and she leads the nation in 3-pointers per game with 3.54.

The winner of the Cal State LA-Sonoma State game will face No. 2 seed Cal State East Bay in a semi-final on Friday at noon. The winner of Thursday's Cal State Dominguez Hills-Chico State game will face No. 1 seed Cal State San Marcos on Friday and the finals will be held on Saturday at 5 p.m. The winner of the tournament earns the CCAA's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. Cal State LA is seeking its first NCAA appearance since 2012.

All games will be broadcast on the CCAA Network. For ticket information, click HERE. For all tournament information, click HERE

Cal State LA In CCAA Tournament History (11 appearances, 7-11 record)
2018 (at Chico State)
No. 4 Chico State 78, No. 5 Cal State LA 62
2017 (at Stanislaus State)
No. 4 Stanislaus State 80, No. 5 Cal State LA 56
2016 (at Cal State Dominguez Hills)
No. 1 Cal State Dominguez Hills 91, No. 8 Cal State LA 66
2014 (At Ontario Arena)
No. 5 Cal State LA  60, No. 4 UC San Diego 59
No. 1 Cal Poly Pomona 66, No. 5 Cal State LA 58
2013 (First Round at Cal State LA; Semis and Finals at Ontario Arena)
No. 4 Cal State LA 67, No. 5 Cal State East Bay 53
No. 4 Cal State LA 66, No. 1 Chico State 53
No. 2 UC San Diego 66, No. 4 Cal State LA 61 (championship game)
2012 (First Round at Cal Poly Pomona, Semis and Finals at RIMAC Arena, UC San Diego)
No. 7 Cal State LA 80, No. 2 Cal Poly Pomona 78
No. 7 Cal State LA 77, No. 1 UC San Diego 76
No. 2 Cal State Monterey Bay 71, No. 6 Cal State LA 69 (championship game)
1998
No. 1 Cal Poly Pomona 78, Cal State LA 44
1995
No. 1 Cal State Dominguez Hills 62, Cal State LA 54
1991
No. 3 Cal State LA 61, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 47
No. 1 Cal Poly Pomona 76, No. 3 Cal State LA 47 (championship game)
1989
No. 1 Cal Poly Pomona 73, No. 4 Cal State LA 72
1988
No. 3 Cal State LA 74, No. 2 Cal State Northridge 63
No. 1 Cal Poly Pomona 71, No. 3 Cal State LA 59 (championship game)