The unranked CSUB Women’s basketball team (11-2 overall, 7-1 CCAA) affirmed their position atop the CCAA standings by laying the wood to former head coach Greg Bruce and the No. 19 UC Davis Aggies (9-3 overall, 5-2 CCAA) 80-54 on Friday Night, sending a strong message to the WBCA.
The ‘Runners raced out to a 12-3 lead and never looked back, playing inspired basketball for the entire 40 minutes. Bakersfield was led by Dianne Dittburner (17 points, 10 rebounds), who posted her first double-double of the season, and Holly Armstrong (17 points, 6 assists), who was five of eight from the three-point line. Also contributing to the Runner cause was Kjell Stoddard, who had 14 points and five assists.
“It’s probably the best 40 minutes that we’ve put together this year, and what I’m most pleased about is that we played so hard for 40 minutes,” said head coach Tim LaKose. “I thought we played very smart, stuck to the game plan, and it looks like they were having a great time out there.”
Playing as a unit, the Runners were able to spread the offense out amongst each other, as they had four different players who scored in double figures. With each player hitting their open shots and a 70 percent free throw performance, the Runners held off any attempt the Aggies made to climb back into the game.
“They were really trying to stick with Dianne (Dittburner), trying to keep her off her shots, so that just opened everybody else. Everyone else hit their shots. When they (Davis) start trying to take away one person, it opens up the floor for other people, and I guess that was just kind of me tonight," said sophomore Holly Armstrong. "I just had to take advantage and it fell for me today."
As Davis pulled to within four points early in the first half, Andria Fabulic (eight points, three assists) hit an eight-foot jumper to spark an 8-0 run, quelling the Aggie revolt. The closest the Runner opponents ever got to tying the score was 42-36 early in the second half, but a 22-5 run, spanning 8:46, put CSUB up by 23 points and the game out of reach for the Aggies.
Davis was lead by senior center Janae Henning (16 points, 10 rebounds), who is ranked fourth in scoring in the CCAA. Her presence in the middle was neutralized by the effort of junior Heather Garay, who had 15 points and six rebounds.
"Me and Ditt (Dittburner) were talking about that, about how everyone was picking it up today. If we expect to blow teams out by 30 points, that's what has to happen," added Garay. "Everyone has to pull together to do it, everyone has to start stepping up. Holly hit a lot of open shots that were key and Kjell did a good job of that too."
CSUB forced 23 turnovers, while committing only 11 throughout the entire game. The Runners dominated in every category except rebounds, as the taller Aggies had a 55-45 edge.
It was an emotional game for some of the Runner players as they faced Bruce, who was on the sidelines for CSUB in its inaugural season. There were tears streaming down the face of some players.
"Obviously I wanted to win really bad, but if we would of won or lost, it was just really hard to see him on the other side," said an emotional Dittburner after the game. "I knew they were going to play tough defense on me, and I thought everybody stepped up.”
With the victory the ‘Runners held on to a share of first place in the CCAA.
Runner@csubak.edu