Women's Basketball
11/14/2007 - Royals Mount Huge Comeback, Knock Off Toros
Story Courtesy of CSUDH Sports Information
Carson, CA - The Cal State Dominguez Hills women's basketball team started the 2007-08 season quickly against the visiting Royals of Hope International University, but that fast start slowly unraveled as HIU's second half push completed the 62-56 come from behind win.
After a bucket down low by Alana Bailey kicked off the scoring two minutes into the game, the Toros raced out to a 20-1 lead over HIU on a layup by Aujaneé Baldwin at the 10:52 mark.
The Royals offense woke up with 8:51 on the clock, using a 13-4 run over a four-minute stretch to cut the Toro lead to just 10 at 24-14 with 5:04 remaining in the half.
After CSUDH pushed its lead back to 14 two minutes later on pair of free-throws by Bailey, Senior Jasmine Nault went to work against the Toro defense, scoring six points down the stretch to cut the lead to just 10 at 32-22.
Nault just came up short of getting the deficit to single-digits before the buzzer when her jump shot in the paint hit the front of rim as the horn sounded.
With momentum as their ally after the intermission, Nault become a one woman offensive machine, scoring the Royals' first eight points and cutting the Toro lead to six at 36-30 with 16:50 remaining in the game.
The Toro offense that started so hot was now ice cold, and a long range bomb from Nault at the 11:42 mark created the game's first tie at 44-44.
Ennisha Kyles and Whitney Gantt fought hard down low and were rewarded with consecutive trips to the charity stripe to stop the HIU run, putting CSUDH up 48-44.
The lead would not last long, however, as two and a half minutes later a trey by Freshman Brittani Philbrook gave HIU its first lead at 51-50 with just under eight minutes to go.
The two teams traded leads over the next few minutes and CSUDH was up one at 56-55 with 4:23 remaining, but a jumper by Senior Allison Wulff gave the Royals the last lead they would need.
Overall, CSUDH outshot the Royals 44.0% to 37.9%, but the visitors capitalized on Toro turnovers to hold a 26-7 points-off-turnover advantage.
Nault was the HIU offense with a game-high 32 points on 11-of-22 shooting, including going 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
Baldwin was the lone Toro in double-figures with 12 points and three rebounds, while fellow guard Iglehart added nine points and three rebounds. In the post Bailey chipped in eight points and pulled down seven boards while Gantt grabbed six rebounds and scored two points.
The Toros, who counted the game as an exhibition, begin their regular season this weekend when they face the University of Tampa on Friday, and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, at the Eve Schicke Memorial Classic, hosted by Cal State Stanislaus.
The Royals, who counted the game as an official game, improved to 3-1 on the season. The Royals return to the Darling Pavilion for two games this weekend- against CSU Monterey Bay on Friday and Holy Names on Saturday. Both games are scheduled to tip off at 5:30 pm.