Dominguez Hills to Meet No. 8 Pomona

The Cal State Dominguez Hills women’s basketball team has a seemingly impossible task ahead when it competes in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament tonight at Cal Poly Pomona.

The Toros (15-10), seeded fourth in the four-team tournament, will meet top-seeded Pomona (23-2). The winner will advance to the tournament final at 6 p.m. Saturday in Bakersfield.

Pomona, ranked eighth in NCAA Division II, has never lost a game in seven previous conference tournaments. The Broncos have won or shared every conference title since its formation in 1981.

Dominguez Hills has never defeated Pomona in 29 games. The Broncos defeated the Toros by scores of 74-47 and 55-48 this season and beat Dominguez Hills in the CCAA tournament final last season.

The Broncos are led by 6-foot-2 center Mildred Conston, a junior transfer from Nevada Las Vegas who averages 18.4 points and nine rebounds.

Pomona has also been led by forward Jennifer Harney, who averages 14.5 points and is third in the CCAA in three-point baskets, and guard Sylvia Castaneda, who ranks among conference leaders in assists and steals.

Dominguez Hills will rely on the outside shooting of junior point guard Karee Bonde and the inside play of senior center Dionne Vanlandingham. Each player is averaging 13.6 points.

Bonde has made a conference-leading 68 three-point baskets and broke her own single-game school record with eight against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last week. Vanlandingham is second to Chandra Tower on the school’s career scoring list with 1,203 points and has 871 rebounds.