BOX SCORE

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SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay women's basketball team earned a bit of redemption Tuesday night, defeating Cal Poly Pomona 73–59 in the quarterfinals of the CCAA Championship Tournament in The Kelp Bed.

CSUMB (19–7 overall) advances to meet UC San Diego, a 55–46 winner of Cal State San Bernardino Tuesday. The other semifinal will pit No. 1 seed Chico State and No. 4 seed Cal State L.A., who beat San Francisco State and Cal State East Bay respectively.

The win avenges a tough 59–53 upset at the hands of Pomona in the 2011 CCAA title game, a loss that cost the Otters a chance to host the NCAA West Regional that season. Tuesday night's win also puts the Otters in prime position to secure a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Senior forward Brittani Jefferson (Palmdale/Antelope Valley JC) did the lion's share of the work for CSUMB. Her 23 points were both a personal career high and the most points scored by an Otter this season. Most importantly, she came up big in the clutch, scoring 18 points in the second half, including nine after the Broncos had roared back to take a five–point lead midway through the period.

Big scoring runs dominated the game with the Otters racing to big leads and Cal Poly using a big streak of its own to claw its way back. The Otters struck first when a Stefanie Corgel (Manhattan Beach/UCSB) three–pointer igniated a 15–0 run that broke an 11–11 tie and gave CSUMB its biggest lead of the first half at 26–11.

Pomona responded with a 16–4 run of its own to bring the deficit down to 30–27 by halftime.

The Broncos did more than hang around early in the second half, using back–to–back three balls from Rachel Hatch and J.J. Judge to open their biggest lead of the game at 44–39 with 13:21 to play.

But 13:21 proved to be midnight for the Broncos, whose coach turned into a pumpkin over the ensuing six minutes as the Otters used their second 15–0 run of the night to jump back in front 54–44. Cal Poly wouldn't get closer than eight points the rest of the way.

In addition to Jefferson, senior guard Jessica Fontenette (Chino Hills/Bishop Amat) passed for a game–high four assists and, in the process, became CSUMB's career assist leader with 208, breaking Alma Lopez's record of 206.

Cal Poly Pomona (14–13) got a double–double effort from senior Ashley Boggs, who scored 24 points and chipped in a game–high 12 rebounds in her final collegiate game.

The Otters return to action Friday versus UCSD, against whom they split their regular season series. The CCAA Championship game will take place Saturday at 5 p.m. The winner of the CCAA title game will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.