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TURLOCK -- One of the most difficult things in sports to do is beat a team three times in a single season.  After Cal State Dominguez Hills got the best of Cal State San Marcos twice during the regular season, the 2nd-seeded Cougars returned the favor with a 73-62 win over top-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills in the CCAA Tournament Championship game to claim the first-ever tourney crown for CSUSM, granting them the league's automatic qualifier to next week's NCAA West Region Tournament, with the host school to be announced tomorrow at 7:30 pm.

The Toros, who were the No. 1 seed in the NCAA West Region earlier this week and ranked No. 4/6 nationally, already solidified their place in the 8-team field by virtue of their 27-1 record entering tonight, but will have to wait and see if No. 2 seed Western Washington's win in the GNAC Tournament Championship game over Montana State Billings earlier this evening did enough in the eyes of the NCAA committee to grant the Vikings hosting duties.

"I'm proud of the season that our team has had this year," said head coach John Bonner, who earned his first CCAA Coach of the Year honor earlier this week.  "They worked hard to earn an opportunity to compete for the tournament championship and we fell short of that tonight.

"Credit to San Marcos and their game plan," he continued.  "We will regroup, make some adjustments, and get ready for next week."

Danyell Booker scored a team-high 17 points for the Toros, but Cougar Charity Gallegos was the star of today's game, pouring in 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the floor that included 4-of-6 from downtown.

In fact, downtown is where the Toros suffered most, hitting only three 3-pointers compared to 12 for CSUSM.

The top seed started strong, nailing 60% of their shots en route to taking a 20-16 lead after the first 10 minutes of play behind six points by Booker and five each by Joe'l Benoit and Amaya Snowden.

CSUSM, however, answered to outscore the Toros by four points in the second quarter to knot the game at 33 entering the half.

The Cougars took charge after intermission by connecting on 6-of-9 attempts from 3-point land compared to just one make by the Toros, outscoring CSUDH by seven.

The Toros trimmed their deficit to just 57-53 after a free throw by Dawnyel Lair, but the Cougars went on a 12-5 run to push their lead to 69-58 with 3:26 left in regulation.  A pair of Benoit free throws brought CSUDH to within nine, but CSUSM answered with two free throws of its own to again take a double-figure lead, and hit three of their final four free throw attempts in the final minute to seal the win.

Lair finished with 15 points but again was saddled with early foul trouble and limited in her aggressiveness while Benoit added nine points and four boards in the loss.  Another sore spot for CSUDH was at the line where they missed 14 of 27 attempts tonight after converting nearly 66% of their attempts from the line entering tonight.

About Cal State Dominguez Hills Athletics
The Toros are proud to be a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competing at the Division II level, bringing excitement and tradition to the campus through 10 different sports (4 Men's, 6 Women's).  The program boasts 4 NCAA Championships, 2 NAIA National Titles, 10 NCAA West Region crowns and 34 CCAA Championships.  CSUDH is one of 12 universities that competes in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), the most prominent Division II conference in the nation with 155 NCAA National Championships, far more than any other conference in the nation.