SEASIDE, Calif. — Senior guard Jenna Bandy (Thousand Oaks HS) continued her breakout senior season Saturday night, scoring a career–high 28 points, but it wasn't enough to stop defending NCAA West Region champion Cal Poly Pomona from earning a 78–61 win in The Kelp Bed.

For the second consecutive night, the Cal State Monterey Bay women played one of the top teams in the region to a standstill in the second half. But for the second consecutive night, a sluggish first half proved to be the difference. Cal Poly (4–2, 2–0 CCAA) raced to a 36–19 halftime lead then withstood a strong second half by the Otters saw the teams draw, 42–42.

Bandy's game will cause a substantial rewriting of the Otter Top 10 list. Her 28 points were the third most in CSUMB history and the most since Dana Andrew set the CSUMB record with 41 points against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Feb. 22, 2008. Her five 3–pointers rank No. 6 on the CSUMB single game list.

At the free–throw line she went a perfect 9–for–9, becoming just the third player in Otter history to have a perfect night from the line with at least nine attempts. Her nine free throws put her at No. 8 on that list.

As hot as Bandy was, the Otter defense did an even better job of cooling off the CCAA's leading scorer. Arizona State transfer Jada Blackwell entered the game averaging 24 point per night but score a season–low eight in this one. Ashley Lovett and Ariel Marsh picked up the slack, however, scoring 18 points apiece.

The Broncos won this game with a big run midway through the first half. After a Bandy 3–pointer cut Cal Poly's lead to 16–12, a Mian Dingle 3–ball in response begat a 12–1 run that push the Bronco advantage to 28–13.

A Lauren Goecke layup to open the second half pushed Cal Poly's lead to 19 at 38–19, but that's as far away as the Broncos would get. CSUMB chipped away, eventually closing the deficit to seven at 46–39 on a Bandy traditional 3–point play with 13:02 remaining.

The Otters got a stop on the next Cal Poly possession with a chance to pull even closer, but seven turned out to be a close as they would get. A 9–2 spurt pushed the Bronco lead back to 14 points and their advantage remained between 12 and 19 for the duration.

In addition to Bandy, Jazmine Johnson (Garden Grove/Santa Ana College) scored 10 points and led both teams with seven rebounds. Stephanie Sack (Petaluma/Santa Rosa JC), ninth most in a game in Otter history.

CSUMB will take a quick detour from CCAA play when it heads inland to play at UC Merced Wednesday evening. The Otters return to league play next Saturday at Cal State East Bay.