Each week, Head Coach Torino Johnson shares with his Cal State LA women’s basketball team a “word of the week,” according to senior guard Gabriella Rones. She said the word applies to their on-court performance, attitude, and approach to opponents. This week, Coach Johnson’s word was focus.
“We were just trying to focus on those little things, the little details with the task at hand and just being aggressive and not letting any small thing get to us,” said Rones.
Their focus was tested but never waivered in their 75-64 victory in the home opener over Concordia University on Wednesday, Nov. 20. Despite leading by as many as 22 points against Concordia, a fourth-quarter rally from the visitors put them in striking distance to steal a road win. However, the Golden Eagles’ torrid start and consistent defense proved enough to start the season 3-0 for the first time since the 2018-2019 season.
The first quarter saw the black-and-gold set the tone by scoring 30 points, the most they’ve scored in a quarter in the young season. The team shot 11-17 from the field, knocking down 64.7% of their shots.
Rones led the way in the first, scoring 12 of the Eagles’ 30 points on four three-pointers. A 40.8% three-point shooter last season, she finished the game scoring a team-high 15 points, shooting 5-7 from three. She credited her strong scoring night to her confidence in her scoring ability.
“I knew that I’m just gonna keep shooting, not let any miss like get to me,” she said.
But it was the defense that kept Concordia from catching up. LA only allowed Concordia to shoot 34.4% from the field, as the defense often forced highly contested looks and turnovers.
Junior guard Nevaeh Asiasi was active on the defensive end. She tallied a block, a team-high six steals, and eight points on the other end. She said coach Johnson’s game plan involved pressuring the guards into turnovers and communicating on switches. The Golden Eagles caused ten turnovers for Concordia, seven of which came from sophomore guard Izzy Navarro.
“We did a great job being aggressive and following the game plan that our coaches gave us,” said Asiasi.
The Golden Eagles needed that defensive success against Concordia. 25 of the team’s 75 points came from turnovers. The team shot just 31.7% from the second quarter onward. Lily Buggs, the reigning California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Week, shot 0-6 on Wednesday after a 20-point game in last Saturday’s overtime win against Western Washington.
“Without our defense today, I don’t know if we would won that one,” said Asiasi. “I think we got rushed into our shots a little bit. We had a few mistakes on reads out of ball screens, I had a few … we could have gotten better shots.”
These offensive struggles were evident in the fourth quarter, where the Golden Eagles entered leading 61-42, going up as many as 22 points in the third quarter. Concordia cut the lead by as many as seven with two minutes and 10 seconds left to play in the fourth. But that was as close as Concordia would get, as two free throws from Buggs and two stops on the defensive end were enough to get Cal State LA to 3-0 on the season.
One notable performance came from junior forward Olivia Hodges, who notched Cal State LA’s first double-double on the season, scoring 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. This was Hodges’ fifth double-double of her college career.
Other notable performances came from sophomore guard Sofia Fidelus, who was productive off the bench, scoring six points and a game-high nine assists. Buggs finished with nine points, eight rebounds, and three assists, going nine for 10 from the free-throw line.
This game was the first of a six-game home stand for LA, their longest such stretch of the season. Their next game is on Friday, Nov. 22, against the Azusa Pacific Cougars. These teams last faced off in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II women’s basketball tournament last season. Coming in as the eight-seed in the West Regional, the Golden Eagles fought valiantly against the Cougars on the road but lost 66-60 in the first round.
Rones says the strategy for the Cougars is to enter attack mode and go after them.
“Just going out there with like guns blazing and giving them all we got, being aggressive like always and just focus on the task at hand,” she said.
