Cal State Long Beach Women Have Home Court in NCAA Bid

The Cal State Long Beach women’s basketball team, ranked seventh in the country, is the West’s second-seeded team in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament.

The 49ers (25-5) will play their opening tournament game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Cal State gym against the winner of Wednesday night’s game between Eastern Illinois and Colorado.

The 49ers won the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. tournament lastweekend by defeating Pacific, 77-50; San Diego State, 94-78, and Nevada-Las Vegas, 79-58.

If the 49ers win Saturday, they will advance to the West Regionals on March 24 and 26, also at the 49ers’ gym. Iowa is the No. 1 seed, followed by Long Beach, Washington, USC, Nebraska and New Mexico.

This year’s games among the final four teams will be played April 1 and 3 in Tacoma, Wash.

This will be the seventh straight NCAA tournament for Coach Joan Bonvicini, who has a 243-48 career record in nine seasons with the 49ers. She has never won a national championship.

The 49ers are led by guard Penny Toler, who is averaging 22.2 points a game. Toler, the most valuable player of the PCAA tournament, has scored in double figures in 53 straight games.

Other Long Beach starters are guard Traci Waites (10.2 points a game), center Angelique Lee (11.3) and forwards Shameil Coleman (10.3) and Shannon Smith (11).