The University of Redlands women's basketball team heads to Chapman University on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off against the Panthers in a semifinal game of the 2013 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament. This event includes the top four teams from the regular-season standings, in which Redlands and Chapman tied for second place with a 12-4 conference mark. The Panthers won the head-to-head tiebreak by defeating the Bulldogs in both earlier-season meetings, thus earning the No. 2 seed.
Tickets are required for Thursday's contest at the Hutton Sports Center in Orange. General admission is $5. Students, employees and faculty with proper school ID, as well as children 12 and under, are free. No pass lists or season passes will be honored.
Driving directions and a campus map are available on the Chapman University web site.
In addition, fans may follow the action via live stats and streaming through Chapman's web site.
Redlands (19-6, 12-4 SCIAC) makes its sixth appearance in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament, earning a spot every year since the event's inception. The Panthers (20-5, 12-4 SCIAC) advance for the first time during its inaugural year of eligibility within the conference.
The Bulldogs enter the tournament after winning their last four games and nine of the last 10. The Maroon and Gray's last loss came at the hands of Chapman on February 5 in Currier Gym, with the Panthers prevailing by a score of 71-66.
Redlands offers a well-balanced roster, with four players contributing nine or more points per game. Junior guard Marika Staton (El Centro, CA) leads the team with 13.8 points per game, which includes a team-leading 44 three-pointers on the season. She also boasts the third-most rebounds with a total of 135 and ranks second with 67 assists.
Junior forward Brittany Oster (Agoura Hills, CA) serves as the team's top rebounder with 206, including 50 on the offensive end, to go along with a solid scoring average of 11.9. She ranks second on the team with 22 blocks to go along with 47 assists.
Chapman's junior guard Kimi Takaoka leads the Panthers with an impressive 17.9 points per game. She has knocked down a team-high 41 shots from downtown and ranks second among the SCIAC in scoring. In four of the five last games, Takaoka has poured in 20 or more points. Freshman forward Sandra Gao backs her with 15.4 points per game while leading the team with 7.8 rebounds.
Regular-season champion Cal Lutheran University (21-4, 13-3 SCIAC) and fourth-seeded Occidental College (16-9, 11-5 SCIAC) square off in Thousand Oaks in Thursday's other semifinal. After exhausting all other tiebreakers, the Tigers advance to the tournament on a coin-flip, while finishing dead-even with the University of La Verne.
The winners of the semifinals will advance to the SCIAC Postseason Tournament final, which will take place on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the highest remaining seed.