COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Concordia Wins Fight to Avoid Fresno Pacific

The road to the Golden State Athletic Conference women’s basketball title likely runs through Fresno Pacific, and Concordia and Southern California College played a game Friday to postpone the inevitable as long as possible.

Concordia was able to pull out an 82-78 overtime victory to clinch a share of second place and guarantee that the Eagles won’t have to play first-place Fresno Pacific until the title game of the conference tournament--if they make it that far.

Southern California College (17-12, 7-5), which also will play host to a first-round game Tuesday, gave the Eagles (18-11, 8-4) quite a battle before losing steam in overtime.

The Vanguards trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, but rallied to take a 70-67 lead with 1 minute 5 seconds left in regulation. Concordia’s Camilla Jonzen made a three-point shot with 53 seconds left to tie it, and Kristin Weddick made two free throws to make it 72-70 with 24 seconds to play.

Then SCC’s Alisha Blomker sent the game to overtime with a 15-foot shot with one second left.

Weddick and Melissa Ridge each scored 16 points, Jennifer Zylstra scored 14 and Wendy Johnson 13 for Concordia. Heather Woodruff scored 31 for SCC.

In Golden State Athletic Conference men’s basketball:

Concordia 78, Southern California College 63--Pharoah Jones scored 21 points, making eight of 11 shots from the field, as the Eagles (25-6, 9-5 in the conference) tied their school record for victories. The 1985-86 team, which played in the National Small College Athletic Assn., finished 25-8.

Jeff Putnam had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Craig Martin had 16 points for Concordia, which was already guaranteed a home game in the first-round of the conference tournament Wednesday. Kevin Carlson scored 25 points, making five three-pointers, for SCC (13-18, 3-11).

In Big West Conference women’s basketball:

Long Beach State 74, CS Fullerton 71--Trailing by eight points at the half, Long Beach State (12-11, 9-6) opened the second half with a 31-6 run.

Melissa Gower had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the 49ers. Koko Lahanas, the nation’s leading scorer at 27.6 points per game, had 24 points and a career-high 19 rebounds for Fullerton (11-13, 7-9).