LA JOLLA, Calif. – A second-half rally fell short for the Cal Poly Pomona women's basketball Friday against Grand Canyon, as the Broncos suffered a season-ending 49-48 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
CPP finishes the 2011-12 campaign with a 19-9 record while GCU improves to 24-3 and will play a second-round game Saturday at 5 p.m. The West Region stage of the tournament is hosted on the campus of top-seeded UC San Diego.
In the last game of her prolific Broncos' career,
Megan Ford totaled 17 points and seven rebounds while going 7-for-10 at the free throw line.
J.J. Judge joined Ford in double figures with 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field. Senior guard
Rosslyn Beard led the CPP defensive effort as she totaled four steals while collecting four assists on the offensive end.
Despite going 0-for-2 from beyond the arc Friday, junior guard
Jennifer Bryant's 50-percent (28-for-56) three-point effort through 2011-12 ties the program's single-season record. Candice Allen is the only other Bronco to shoot at that percentage from the beyond the arc as she knocked down 29 of her 58 attempts during the 2003-04 campaign.
On Friday, the Lopes jumped out to a 6-0 lead as the Broncos encountered a bit of trouble getting the offense going. CPP found its rhythm with passes into the paint for Ford and
Charlene Popoff, who helped the Broncos to a 7-0 spurt to gain their first advantage of the contest.
GCU seized the edge back two possessions later when Stevie Kamp sank a pair of free throws. Ford continued to find easy points in the paint and a jumper from Bryant brought CPP to within one, 16-15, with eight minutes to play in the half.
With Angelina Dennison and Maylinn Smith leading the Lopes' attack, GCU put together a 16-6 run in the final eight minutes of the opening half. Through the first 20 minutes, the Broncos committed 13 turnovers while shooting 38.1 percent from the floor. Meanwhile, the Lopes turned the ball over nine times and shot 46.2 percent.
Early in the second half, CPP slowly but steadily chipped away at the GCU lead. The Broncos' defense toughened up, holding the Lopes scoreless between the 17:29 and 9:01 marks during a 7-0 run for CPP. That brought the score to 39-32 with GCU still in charge.
After forcing a shot clock violation on one end at the 7:19 mark, the Broncos got a running jumper from Judge on the other end to cut the lead to seven, 41-34.
A Judge three-pointer at the 2:01 mark pulled CPP to within just five points, 44-39, but GCU's Smith countered with a trey of her own to bounce the difference back to eight. A successful shot from beyond the arc by
Rosslyn Beard cut the Lopes' lead to 47-44 before the teams traded one free throw each to make it a 48-45 score.
A free throw from Jalissa Butler extended the lead to four points before another three-pointer by Judge just before the buzzer sounded brought the final result to 49-48.
