SAN FRANCISCO – The Cal State San Marcos women's basketball team (20-6, 17-4 CCAA) clinched at least a share of the 2023-24 CCAA Regular-Season Championship with a 70-46 victory at San Francisco State (5-21, 4-17 CCAA) on Saturday afternoon at The Swamp.

TOP PERFORMERS
Jordan Vasquez – 24 points | 17 rebounds | 8-of-11 FG | 2 assists
Mina Tameilau – 12 points | 5 rebounds | 4 assists
Charity Gallegos – 12 points | 5 assists | 1 steal

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars found themselves up 7-2 in the opening three minutes of play.
• The Gators went on a 15-7 run to close out the first quarter with a 17-14 lead.
• CSUSM answered with a 20-7 second-quarter performance after shooting 54.%% (6-of-11) while holding SF State to just 18.8% (3-for-16).
• The Cougars took a 34-24 lead into the break with Vasquez posting a first-half high 10 points and six rebounds.
• The Cougars went on a 16-0 run capped by a Natalie Nicolosi layup to take their largest lead of the game at 68-43 with 1:44 remaining in the game.

FAST BREAK

• This marks CSUSM's third CCAA Regular-Season Championship Title in four years.
• With Chico State's 78-66 loss to Cal State LA, the Cougars will not share the championship. CSUSM has clinched the No. 1 spot and a first-round bye in the CCAA Tournament held on March 7-9 at Cal State San Bernardino. 
• Vasquez collected her 17th double-double of the season (24 pts, 17 reb.) and the 43rd of her collegiate career.
• CSUSM won the battle of the boards at 52-31 with 14 coming on the offensive side.
• The Cougars scored 32 of their points inside the paint.
• CSUSM tallied 16 second-chance points and 11 fast-break points while holding SF State to zero in both categories.
• The Cougars extended their win streak over the Gators to nine and are 12-2 in the all-time series.

THOUGHTS FROM HEAD COACH RENEE JIMENEZ
"This has been our toughest CCAA Championship by far. We really had to grind and work for every conference win. We saw every team's best game, but this group held the vision and trusted the process. They relied on their defense and rebounding to get this championship, and I couldn't be happier and more proud of them."

UP NEXT
The Cougars will close out the regular season on Thursday, Feb. 29 at Sonoma State with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.