Toros women’s basketball celebrates their regular season title with a banner at centercourt of the Torodome. Credit: @TorosAthletics on Twitter
By Raymond Castillo Sports Editor
Carson, CA- On Saturday afternoon inside the Torodome, the Toros women’s basketball team led by head coach, John Bonner, defeated their cross-county rival California State University, Los Angeles to claim at least a share of the conference regular season championship. A loss by California State University, San Marcos on Saturday clinched the California State University, Dominguez Hills first regular season California Collegiate Athletic Association championship in basketball (Men’s/Women’s) since the 2015-2016 season.
Bonner and his squad are an impressive 19-1 this season with their only loss coming in heartbreaking fashion, a one point loss to California State University, Chico at home in late January. They lead the CCAA in total team points (2004), average points per game (77.1), and average margin of victory (18.0), by a lot. The next closest teams have scored 193 points less (CSULA, 1811 points), average almost five less points per game (CSULA, 72.4), and have their margin of victory basically cut in half (San Marcos, 9.3).
This year’s Toros cannot be mentioned without bringing up their leader, and CCAA Player Of The Year candidate, Dawnyel Lair. The senior guard is currently top five in the CCAA in points per game (15.0), and total rebounds (191). Lair currently leads the conference in offensive rebounds (84) and average rebounds per game (8.7).
The most incredible part about Lair’s great season is the amount of minutes played. Bonner and his staff have done an amazing job limiting the amount of minutes for not only star player, Dawnyel Lair, but for all of his players. Lair has logged only 649 total minutes on the floor this entire season which is only 25th highest in the CCAA. The next highest minute total for Bonner’s squad is Nala Williams, who has 639 minutes played. In all, the Toros have done an amazing job of not exhausting their players, but still continually running opponents off the floor.
The low minute count for the Toros have allowed the team to continue to hound teams all game long and hold them to third-best average of 59.1 points per game which is only 0.3 points per game behind the conference leader, Sonoma State with 58.8.
In addition to defense, the Toros beat down the opponent with their relentless effort of getting inside close to the hoop to maximize their layup and close shot opportunities. Countless times throughout the game, Coach Bonner emphasizes the fundamentals of passing the ball, cutting without the ball, and taking advantage of size mismatches, and not to start “chucking” shots as he said during Saturday’s victory of CSULA.
The smart, fundamental basketball that Bonner preaches is shown game in, game out and possession by possession. His team has attempted only 500 three-point shots this season which ranks them in the bottom half of the conference. Less three’s attempted means less long rebounds which allows the opponents to get out in transition and get quick easy buckets. The style of offense Bonner’s team plays is mirrored on the defensive end; relentless, physical, and fundamentally sound.
Bonner often coaches while his team is on defense with his arms out in a defensive position almost as if he is the sixth defender, but it is more likely he is doing it to remind his team to keep their arms extended and hands active in the passing lanes all in effort to disrupt the offense.
Now that the celebration for the regular season is over, Bonner and his staff must refocus the juggernaut and set its sights on a CCAA Tournament championship. They will have a chance to do just that on a roadtrip with the two final regular season games at San Francisco State University and California State University, Monterey Bay before the CCAA tournament begins Mar. 2 in Turlock, CA.
