CARSON – Cal State Dominguez Hills hit four 3-pointers down the stretch and cut a 10-point Jacks’ lead to one with just over a minute to play, but a Brittney Taylor 3-point play and an Andrea Bobic free throw secured a 74-69 win for the Humboldt State women’s basketball team on Friday night in Carson.
“They made a great run and some huge shots down the stretch,” head coach Joddie Gleason said. “At about the three minute mark the panic button kind of went off, but we calmed ourselves down and finished the game strong.”
With the win the Jacks record improves to 13-4 overall, 11-2 in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play. CSUDH falls to 6-12, 5-8 in CCAA action.
Box Score
HSU had three players in double figures led by Taylor, who scored 23 and grabbed seven rebounds. Paige Peterson and Bobic had 20 and 12 points, respectively. Bree Halsey led the Jacks with 11 rebounds.
The Toros were paced by Nika Mixon’s 22 points and eight rebounds. Brandie had McCann 15 and Whitney Gantt chipped in 12.
With 13 minutes, 48 seconds to play in the first half and the score tied 12-12, HSU went on a 8:44, 19-5 run to take a 31-17 lead with just over five minutes to play before the half. The surge was keyed by seven unanswered points from Peterson, who finished the half a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line.
CSUDH chipped away at the Jacks’ 14-point lead in the final five minutes; cutting it to seven at the break 41-34.
Humboldt State opened the second half with a 15-4 surge over the first eight minutes to push their advantage to 18 points at 56-38. It looked like the Jacks would cruise to the win from there, but Cal State Dominguez Hills had other ideas.
Mixon scored 12 straight points for the Toros before a 3-pointer by Leniece Arevalo made it 63-50 with 5:18 to play. After Gant sank the next 10 points for CSUDH and McCann hit a three, HSU led by just one 67-66.
The Jacks made three of four free throws over the last two minutes and got clutch baskets from Lisa Petty and Taylor to secure the 74-69 win.
“We had to make our free throws down the stretch and we did,” Gleason said. “Earlier in the season we struggled a bit with that, but we have matured and are finishing games with confidence.
“This was a huge win. These guys (CSUDH) are a different team than the one we saw in December. They are very strong.”