Cypress, CA- The Cypress College women's basketball team (24-6, 10-2 OEC) narrowly escaped with an 87-77 victory over the San Bernardino Valley Wolverines (16-9, 8-2) in their SoCal Regional round two matchup on Friday night.
The Lady Chargers forced the Wolverines into 28 turnovers leading to 29 points. Dominque Culhno led Cypress with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists while Alyssa Movchan added 20 points, including 4-of-6 from downtown and three steals. Sydney Gray and Ashley Carson each finished with 23 points for the Wolverines. Gray added 16 rebounds to finish with a double-double.
The game went back and forth throughout, as the score was tied seven times and the lead changed 10 times. San Bernardino's size and athleticism gave Cypress problems in the first half. The Chargers were able to force 11 first half turnovers with their defensive pressure but the Wolverines were able to score easy baskets once they beat the full court press. San Bernardino led 40-39 at the half.
The Chargers tried switching to a zone defense to start the third quarter; however that enabled San Bernardino to go on an 8-0 run forcing a Chargers timeout. After the timeout, Cypress switched back to man-to-man defense for the remainder of the game.
San Bernardino led 65-60 when Carson picked up her fourth foul with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. With Carson on the bench, Cypress went on a 15-4 run and took complete control of the game. The Wolverines fought back to make it a three-point game but the Chargers knocked down their free throws in the final minutes to put the game away.
Cypress will return to action in the SoCal Regional Semi-Final where they will face the winner of #2 Mt. San Jacinto vs. #18 Citrus on Wednesday, March 2nd. The highest remaining seed will host.
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