Toro Women Advance to CCAA Final, 59-47 : Basketball: Dominguez Hills looks sluggish in victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The Toros play top-seeded Cal Poly Pomona tonight.

It was clear that the Cal State Dominguez Hills women’s basketball team took its opponent for granted in Thursday’s California Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament opener at Cal Poly Pomona’s Kellogg Gym.

The second-seeded Toros played a sloppy game against third-seeded Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, but managed a 59-47 victory to advance into tonight’s 7:30 final against top-seeded Cal Poly Pomona.

Dominguez Hills (18-10) defeated San Luis Obispo (15-12) twice during the regular season by 16 and 17 points, but Coach Van Girard was worried that the Toros would overlook the Mustangs.

“I preached all week long, ‘No, no, no! Do not take this team for granted!’ ” Girard said. “We didn’t have our game face on when we went out there for warm-ups, and we didn’t have it on when the game started.”

The Toros’ biggest letdown came toward the end of the first half when they let a 12-point lead slip away. San Luis Obispo closed the half with a 13-3 run, ending with a three-point basket by Nicole Lowry, and trailed, 29-27, at the break.

“They played a little more physical and they played harder,” Toro forward Dionne Vanlandingham said. “We’re going to have to play good defense tomorrow, and we’re going to have to make more shots and be more aggressive.”

Dominguez Hills will need to be in top form against CCAA powerhouse Pomona if it hopes to earn a berth into the NCAA Division II playoffs. The Broncos (22-5) have not lost a conference game this season, and have won 11 consecutive CCAA titles and three NCAA Division II championships.

“The key to that game will be our ability to defend the post,” Girard said. “They like to get the ball inside, and we have to rebound big and be aggressive in there.”

That didn’t happen against San Luis Obispo, which came within a point with 16 minutes 52 seconds left to play.

But the Mustangs failed to score for the next 5:40 and allowed the Toros to regain a comfortable 45-34 lead with a just over 11 minutes left.

“It was more or less the same scenario as the other two times,” San Luis Obispo Coach Jill Orrock said. “We can’t score when we need to. It was a slow, stagnant and sloppy game.”

The Mustangs made only three field goals in the final 6:25 of the game--two of them were layups by forward Suzanne Carey and the other a three-point shot by guard CeeCee Nues.

Dominguez Hills was led by Karee Bonde, who had a game-high 15 points. Earlier in the evening, center Cheri Bullet was named the CCAA co-most valuable player along with Pomona forward Leslie Ellis. Dominguez Hills guard Denise Slater was named to the All-CCAA first team, and Vanlandingham was named to the second team.

Girard was named conference coach of the year after leading the Toros to a second-place finish.