SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The No. 2-seed and No. 23/RV Cal State San Marcos women's basketball team (21-5, 18-4 CCAA) received a bye for the second consecutive year to the CCAA Tournament Semifinals and will face No. 3-seed Cal State LA on Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Stanislaus State's Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena in Turlock. 

LAST TIME OUT

• CSUSM began the weekend by earning a 69-59 victory over Humboldt State on Thursday. 
• On Saturday, the Cougars wrapped up the weekend with a 67-59 loss to Sonoma State on Senior Day. 

CSUSM PLACES FIVE ON ALL-CCAA

• Five Cougars earned a spot on the All-CCAA Team on Tuesday evening. 
• Dynnah Buckner, Kelsey Forrester and Jordan Vasquez earned first team accolades while Mina Tameilau was named to the second team and Charity Gallegos was an honorable mention. 
• Buckner and Vasquez collected their second consecutive first-team honors while Forrester was a second-team honoree last season. 
• Since joining the CCAA in 2015-16, CSUSM has tallied 22 All-CCAA selections. 

COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• CSUSM dropped to No. 23 in the latest WBCA Top 25 Poll and continues to receive votes in the D2SIDA Top 25 Poll. 
• The Cougars stayed at No. 3 in the final iteration of the NCAA West Region rankings prior to Sunday night's NCAA Tournament selection show. 
• This is the third consecutive season that CSUSM has tallied 20 or more wins in a season. In 2019-20, the Cougars finished with a 25-5 overall record before their season was canceled due to the pandemic, and last season, they finished with a 22-4 overall record. 
• CSUSM is the top ball-handling team in the CCAA, ranking 45th in turnovers per game (14.0) and 57th in assist/turnover ratio (0.95) in the nation. 
• The Cougars remain in the top spot in the CCAA in free throw percentage at 76.5% (368-of-481) while ranking 30th in Division II.
• CSUSM stayed in the No. 1 spot in the CCAA in 3-point field-goal percentage this week with a 34.1%.
• The Cougars are second in the conference in scoring defense, holding opponents to 59.2 points per game. 
• The Cougars rank second in the CCAA with a 41.9 field-goal percentage while Cal State Dominguez Hills leads the conference with a 42.4%. 
• Charity Gallegos ranks No. 2 in the CCAA in assist/turnover ratio at 2.02 while Kate Carlson comes in at No. 6 with a 1.53 value. 
• Kelsey Forrester is the CCAA 3-point field-goal percentage leader at 43.4%, ranking No. 13 in the nation. 
• Ranking second in the CCAA, Forrester is 13th in the nation with 2.92 3-pointer per game and 19th with 76 total 3-pointers. 
• Dynnah Buckner ranks second in the CCAA with a 81.0 free throw percentage and third with 94 made free throws.
• Forrester has accumulated 229 career 3-pointers and is now chasing newly crowned CCAA 3-point leader Nicole Flennaugh of Cal State LA who has 250.  

 

GAME 27 | CAL STATE LA
Date	Friday, March 3, 2023
Time	5:30 p.m.
Location	Turlock, Calif.
Venue	Fitzpatrick Arena
Records	CSUSM (21-5) CSULA (19-8)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network
Tickets	HomeTown Ticketing

   

SEMIFINALS AGAINST CSULA

• Friday's game will be the first time these two teams have faced each other since they played in back-to-back games before the holiday break and on New Year's Day.  
• CSUSM was victorious in both of those games, recording a 76-70 win in Los Angeles on Dec. 19 before squeaking out a 66-65 victory over the Golden Eagles in San Marcos on Jan. 1.
• CSULA capped off its regular season with a pair of victories last weekend, defeating Sonoma State 61-58 on Thursday before collecting a 79-72 win over Cal Poly Humboldt on the Golden Eagles' senior day.
• The Golden Eagles finished third in the CCAA standings with a 16-6 conference record.
• CSULA does not lead one category in the CCAA, but ranks second in both assists (14.3) and blocks (3.4) per game.  
• The Golden Eagles have the second-highest scoring offense in the league at 72.3 points per game.
• Scoring 33.9 of its 3-pointers points per game, CSULA has the third-best 3-point field goal percentage in the league, but it has the sixth-best 3-point field-goal percentage defense at 28.2%.
• The Golden Eagles are coming down with the third-most rebounds per game in the CCAA at 41.96.
• Crowned the CCAA 3-point career-leader earlier this season, Nicole Flennaugh is the Golden Eagles' leading scorer at 16.2 points per a game, ranking third in the CCAA.
• CSUSM is 10-5 in the all-time series against CSULA and has never played the Golden Eagles on a neutral court.

 
POTENTIAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

• If CSUSM is successful in its semifinal game against Cal State LA, the Cougars will have the opportunity to face first-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills, fourth-seeded Cal Poly Pomona or fifth-seeded Chico State in Saturday night's championship game at 8 p.m.
• The Cougars fell in both meetings to the Toros, split the series with the Broncos and swept the Wildcats this season.
• CSUSM fell by a score of 80-66 to Cal State East Bay in last year's championship game.

 
CCAA TOURNAMENT BREAKDOWN

• This marks CSUSM's fourth consecutive trip to the CCAA Tournament, first as the No. 2 seed. 
• The six teams that advanced to the 2023 CCAA Tournament were: No. 1-seed Cal State Dominguez Hills, No. 2-seed CSUSM, No. 3-seed Cal State LA, No. 4-seed Cal Poly Pomona, No. 5-seed Chico State and No. 6-seed Sonoma State
• In their inaugural trip to the CCAA Tournament in 2019, the Cougars defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills, 76-69, in the quarterfinals before falling 70-63 to then-No. 2 UC San Diego in the semifinals.
• Despite sharing the regular-season title with UCSD in 2019-20, the Cougars entered the 2020 CCAA Tournament as the top seed after defeating UCSD twice that season. CSUSM opened the 2020 Tournament with a 65-51 victory over Sonoma State before taking down Cal State East Bay in the semifinals, 77-69. The Cougars faced their cross-town foe UCSD in the 2020 CCAA Tournament finals and fell to the Tritons, 73-62. That game would later be the last time the Cougars took the court in the 2020 postseason due to the NCAA West Regionals being canceled a week later. 
• Last season, the Cougars received a bye to the semifinals where they defeated No.5-seed Chico State, 73-60, before falling to Cal State East Bay in the championship game, 80-66. 

    

COUGAR OUTLOOK

• CSUSM was picked to finish first once again in the 2022-23 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll. 
• The Cougars will start the new season ranked No. 12 in the WBCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll and No. 18 in the D2SIDA Top 25 Media Poll. 
• Nine Cougars return for the 2022-23 season including All-CCAA first teamers Jordan Vasquez and Dynnah Buckner as well as second-team selection Kelsey Forrester. 
• CSUSM adds three transfer, including sophomore Charity Gallegos (Chico State), redshirt junior Mina Tameilau (Cal State East Bay) and redshirt sophomore Malia Mastora (Seattle Pacific). 
• Beginning their collegiate campaign in Cougar Blue this season are freshmen Tatum Tamashiro and Alina Tran. 

     

THE JIMENEZ FILE

• Head coach Renee Jimenez enters her eighth season in charge of the Cougar women's basketball team, a program that is only in its twelfth season of existence.
• In 2021-22, Jimenez earned her third career and second consecutive CCAA Coach of the Year honor. She previously earned the award as the head coach at Cal State Monterey Bay during the 2010-11 season. 
• With Jimenez at the helm, the Cougars clinched their second consecutive CCAA Regular-Season Championship
• After CSUSM's 2019-20 inaugural NCAA Division II West Regional appearance was cut short due to COVID-19, the Cougars were finally able to make their debut in the national tournament in 2021-22 as the No. 4 seed. 
• The Cougars have advanced to the CCAA Tournament three times, making it to the semifinals in 2018-19 followed by back-to-back finals appearance in 2019-20 and 2021-22.
• Jimenez has compiled a 238-142 (.626) in her 14 seasons coaching in the CCAA, spending two seasons at Cal State San Bernardino after a five-year stint at Cal State Monterey Bay.
• In her seven seasons at CSUSM, Jimenez has tallied a record of 113-71 (.626).