CSUN Advances To Big West Title Game

ANAHEIM, Calif.—Tessa Boagni scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds led CSUN to a 73-50 victory over Cal Poly in the semifinals of the Big West Conference Women's Basketball Tournament presented by Memorial Care Friday at the Honda Center.

Boagni's performance was the seventh double-double of the year for the 6-2 forward as the Matadors advanced to the finals of the tournament for the third time in the past six years. The Matadors made 9-of-15 first quarter field goal attempts and used a 12-0 run to jump out to a 24-9 lead. After allowing only four Cal Poly field goals in the first 10 minutes, CSUN limited the Mustangs to 3-of-16 shooting in the second as the Matadors led 36-16 at the half.

Strong shooting followed CSUN into the second half as the Matadors were 8-of-16 from the floor in the third. The Matadors forced Cal Poly to miss 12-of-17 field goal attempts in the third as CSUN would take a 56-30 lead. The Mustangs fouled CSUN 14 times in the final 10 minutes. The Matadors took advantage, making 11 of the attempts from the charity stripe as CSUN would go onto the 23-point victory.

Cal Poly shot only 24.4% from the field for the game (19-of-78). CSUN would shoot 50% or more for only the third time in 33 games this season as the Matadors were 25-of-50 from the floor. The Matadors outrebounded the Mustangs 49-35.

Boagni charted her seventh double-double of the year and the 12th of her career. Three other CSUN starters would score in double figures. Channon Fluker scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Hayley Tanabe had 11 while Destiny Brooks had 10. The Mustangs, who entered the tournament as the second seed, were led by Lynn Leaupepe who had 13. Her twin sister, Dynn, scored 12. Dynn, the Big West's leading scorer was 5-of-20 from the field.

"I am extremely, extremely proud of our group and their effort," said CSUN head coach Jason Flowers. "The last week we challenged them at the end of the season. The vision was always the same from the beginning. We told them that all of this was possible if they did certain things. They bought into it, I don't know what took them so long, but they bought into it and I am really happy for them to be able to go through this and go through this experience."

Friday's victory will send CSUN (18-15), the No. 5 seed, into the Big West Tournament championship game against the No. 1 UC Davis. The Aggies (25-5) defeated UC Riverside, the No. 6 seed, 49-46, in the other semifinal. The Matadors' victory sends CSUN into the championship game for the third time in the past six seasons. A fact that is not lost on Flowers.

"It's humbling. I will say wholeheartedly that it's not me," Flowers said. "I've been blessed with an opportunity to lead young people. I've been blessed with young people who a take being challenged and respond the right way and that's a process, but that foundation was laid before they ever got to us. I've been blessed to be surrounded with a great coaching staff who all one day are going to be really good coaches. I've been blessed to be a part of a support team from athletic trainers throughout the years to strength and condition coaches to administrators. We wanted to build a culture and do things a certain way and that takes a lot of people. So, it's definitely not me, God has blessed me tremendously and I reap the benefits of it every single day being with people around me."

Tip is set for 4 p.m. The CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health begins coverage at 3:50 p.m. with Eric Kaback and Kevin Strauss on the call. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Prime Ticket and will be available on Fox Sports Go as well.

~www.GoMatadors.com~

Next Event

Team Stats

Tessa Boagni

Channon Fluker

Hayley Tanabe

Destiny Brooks

Players Mentioned

Tessa Boagni

Destiny Brooks

Channon Fluker

Hayley Tanabe