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NCAA West Region, Here Comes Toros Basketball!
3/8/2009 4:49:45 PM
Seattle (top) will play host to the women's regional while Hawai'i (bottom) will host the men's
Indianapolis, IN -- Following two highly successful seasons for the Cal State Dominguez Hills basketball programs, both teams have their tickets punched and will be heading off to BYU-Hawai'i University for the men's regional, and to Seattle Pacific University for the women as CSUDH begins the 2009 NCAA West Regionals.
The No. 6 seeded women, still celebrating their 2008-09 CCAA Tournament Championship and the automatic qualifier last night, will face-off against a familiar foe in No. 3 seed UC San Diego in first round action on Friday, March 13, at 12:30 pm, looking to pick up their first win against the Tritons in the 2008-09 season
Now the second winningest program in the history of Toros women's basketball, CSUDH boasts a 21-9 overall record and eight wins in their last nine games, the Toros' best run at the end of the season in the history of the program.
No stranger to the NCAA West Region Tournament, the Toros have appeared four times, but have not made it past the first round. Their last appearance came in 2007 where they suffered a heartbreaking 49-48 loss to the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
The Toros are led by Neka Mixon and Brittney Blankenship, both of whom were named to the All-CCAA First Team. Mixon has the honor of also being named the CCAA Newcomer of the year while Blankenship can boast of her 956 career points and with postseason play now in action, the mark of 1,000 is even more reachable.
The men's squad, which finished the regular season in a three-way tie atop the CCAA with fellow NCAA participants Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona, dropped one spot to No. 4, and will face GNAC runner-up and No. 5 seeded Central Washington in the first round on Friday, March 13, at 5:00 pm, on the campus of top-seeded BYU-Hawai'i, which is hosting one of the sub-regionals. The two teams have met twice before, with the Wildcats taking both meetings.
"It has been a great accomplishment to get to the regional playoffs in that it shows the quality of young men and all the hard work that they put into our program," begins CSUDH men's basketball head coach Damaine Powell.
"This is a victory for former Toros like Shamont Brown, Mike Steed, Nonso Nibo and Jamaal Barnes, who laid the foundation for future Toros yet never reached the NCAA postseason. Those are the founding fathers of our program, who allowed this current group of young men to take what they built and move the program to the next level."
With a 21-7 mark entering the West Region, CSUDH last appeared in the NCAA postseason 20 years ago, winning the third place consolation game against Sonoma State. In its three total NCAA postseason appearances, the Toros are 2-4 overall.
Leading the charge this season are All-CCAA 1st-team selections Michael Hernandez and Jerrell Smith, along with Rodney Yearby, who was named to the All-CCAA 2nd-team for the second-consecutive year.
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