The University of Redlands women's basketball team battled it out with the Coe College (IA) Kohawks on Thursday night but fell to the unfamiliar foes in a 60-67 non-conference decision. Despite struggling from the floor, the Bulldogs clawed their way back on two occasions to force a tight finish to the contest that ultimately went in favor of Kohawks.
The visiting squad jumped out to a seven-point lead with 8:31 left in the opening frame. But Redlands slowly chipped away at the deficit, as sophomore guard Jade Cheldelin (Portland, OR), senior forward Victoria Fakalata (East Palo Alto, CA), and freshman forward Allison Siksnus (Placentia, CA) all scored points in the Maroon and Gray's 10-2 run to make it 24-23. Cheldelin capped off the Bulldogs' offensive spurt by going coast-to-coast after a steal for the lay-up.
But Coe's Mickey Hansche answered with back-to-back three-pointers to extend the Kohawks' advantage back to five points with 4:24 left in the first half.
Redlands kept it a five-point game before time expired, as senior guard Kameran Dage (Walnut Creek, CA) sank a shot from downtown and freshman forward Reyna Ta'amu (Lakewood, CA) rolled in a lay-up after accepting a shovel pass from senior guard Kaity Lykins (Simi Valley, CA).
Leading 36-31 to start the second stanza, the Kohawks maintained the momentum with an 8-4 run out of the gates.
But Siksnus got hot at the right time, knocking down a three-pointer from the top of the arc to initiate the Bulldogs' second comeback of the contest. Moments later, Cheldelin converted a second-chance jumper off of an offensive board by Fakalata, before Siksnus found nothing but net from long range, making it a three-point game at 43-46 with 12:05 remaining.
Less than a minute later, Siksnus tied it up at 46 apiece by knocking down her fourth three-pointer of the game.
The teams traded long balls, with Cheldelin representing Redlands, before freshman guard Courtney Chen (La Canada, CA) hit the short-range jumper for the Maroon and Gray lead at 51-50.
However, a one-point game quickly turned into a six-point deficit after a brief scoring drought for the Bulldogs.
Refusing to go away, Redlands gained a pair of free-throws by Lykins and another key basket by Siksnus to put the home team right back in the hunt at 58-60 with 2:30 to go.
But back-to-back scores by Coe's Aleena Hobbs provided the difference for the Kohawks, creating enough cushion in the waning minutes.
Siksnus led the Bulldog scorers with 14 points, while Dage chipped in 11. Lykins finished the night with nine points, four rebounds, and three assists in a well-rounded effort. Chen and Cheldelin provided quality minutes off the bench, combining for 16 points, four assists, and three steals.
Overall, Coe (5-4) out-shout the home team, knocking down 50.9% of its shots, as compared to Redlands' 35.5% showing. However, the Maroon and Gray was 7-for-15 from long range, while the opponents went 5-for-19.
The Bulldogs (3-5) head to Orange on December 29-30 for the Chapman Winter Classic, taking on Bethel College and Bristol University.