# 1 Cal Poly Pomona falls to Cal State Bakersfield, 92-86
POMONA¾ On a night when Cal Poly
Pomona gathered together its 12 national championship teams, its one reigning
champion was handed a rare home defeat.
Cal Poly Pomona’s women’s basketball team, the No. 1 ranked
team in the nation, saw its 22-game home winning streak come to an end Saturday
when Cal State Bakersfield handed the Broncos a 92-86 defeat. The loss dropped
Cal Poly Pomona (16-3, 12-2) into a first-place tie in the CCAA with the
Roadrunners (16-3, 12-2). Heather Garay scored a career-high 43 points to lead
the Roadrunners, who beat the Broncos for the first time in four tries.
The loss was the first for Cal Poly Pomona in Kellogg Gym since
a March 11, 2000 defeat to Western Washington in the NCAA Division II West
Regional final. The Broncos also lost for just the fifth time in their last 56
conference games.
The Bronco women were one of 12 national championship teams
from Cal Poly Pomona that were honored on Saturday evening.
Lauri McIntosh had 29 points and six rebounds to lead the
Broncos, while Margot Richards had a season-high 14 points and six rebounds.
Anna James had 10 points before leaving early in the second half with a knee
injury. The Broncos trailed at the time, 53-52, and were behind the rest of the
way.
The Broncos trailed for most of the first half and were down by
10 points, 41-31, late in the first half. A 15-4 run to close the half, fueled
by sophomore forward Salma Rasheed, gave Cal Poly Pomona a 46-45 edge at
halftime. Rasheed scored seven straight points in the final two minutes of the
half and her layup gave the Broncos the halftime advantage.
Cal Poly Pomona, though, had no answer for Garay, who scored 25
points in the second half. She was also a force on the boards, grabbing a
game-high 10 rebounds. There were 54 fouls called in the game and both teams
had several key players in foul trouble. McIntosh, Aprile Powell, Burgundie
Porter and Leah Whatley all had four fouls each for Cal Poly Pomona, while
Kjell Stoddard and Andria Fabulic both fouled out for the Roadrunners. Garay
also played with four fouls.
After McIntosh scored on a layup to give the Broncos a 48-45
lead, the Roadrunners fought back and took a 53-50 lead on a 3-pointer by Holly
Armstrong. James went down hard while stopping a Cal State Bakersfield
breakaway and was in obvious pain as she was eventually carried off the court.
The Roadrunners held leads as large as eight points and never
smaller than three points for the final 12 minutes of the game. A McIntosh
layup cut the deficit to five points with two minutes remaining, but the
Broncos couldn’t get any closer.