The University of Redlands women's basketball team continued its Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) journey on Saturday night against the Cal Lutheran University Regals in Currier Gym. Despite only trailing by one point at the start of the second half, the Bulldogs struggled to gain any offensive momentum against Cal Lutheran's quick-footed defense and suffered a 48-58 defeat.
The Bulldogs got off to a solid start, as senior forward Victoria Fakalata (East Palo Alto, CA) and senior guard Kameran Dage (Walnut Creek, CA) both converted lay-ups to grab a quick 4-0 lead.
Redlands held a four-point lead with 14:49 on the clock after freshman forward Reyna Ta'amu (Lakewood, CA) worked her way to the charity stripe to knock down a pair of free-throws. Freshman forward Allison Siksnus (Placentia, CA) followed a possession later by burying a jumper for the Maroon and Gray's 12-8 advantage.
The teams traded baskets throughout the first half with great parades of offense and defense on both ends of the hardwood but neither created any significant edge in the score.
With the tally knotted at 21 apiece, the Bulldogs corralled a slight advantage after junior forward Brinsley Farry (Ventura, CA) snapped the bottom of the net with a jumper.
The teams continued to battle on each end of the floor, trading basket for basket.
After senior guard Kaity Lykins' (Simi Valley, CA) hauled in a huge offensive rebound to keep the ball in the Bulldogs' paws, Siksnus converted the lay-up to even the score at 25-25.
Although each squad scored another bucket before the end of the frame, the Regals made their way to the charity stripe and converted the first of two for the small 28-27 halftime advantage.
Cal Lutheran notched the first four points of the second stanza to hold a 32-27 lead less than two minutes into the action.
Senior forward Nicole Packard (Thousand Oaks, CA) trimmed the Bulldogs' deficit to three after knocking down two free-throws, pushing the score to 29-32. In addition, Lykins and Ta'amu teamed up to shave the score down to one at 33-34 by the 14:45-mark on the clock.
However, the Regals fired off an 8-0 run to pull away at a critical juncture of the game.
Nonetheless, sophomore guard Jade Cheldelin (Portland, OR) came into the game with 11:33 left to play in the contest and provided an instant spark for the Bulldogs by draining a three-pointer and a jumper to make it a five-point game at 39-44.
Fakalata then began to hit her offensive stride once again, knocking down three jumpers to maintain a five-point deficit with the score at 45-50 with 3:22 left to play.
Unfortunately, the Bulldogs struggled to continue any consistent production and eventually fell to Cal Lutheran by a score of 48-58.
Fakalata led the Maroon and Gray in scoring with 10 points to go along with six rebounds. Farry, Dage, and Lykins each notched six points, while Cheldelin chipped in seven points off the bench.
The Bulldogs shot 31.1% from the floor in comparison to the Regals' 33.9% performance.
Redlands (9-11, 6-5 SCIAC) continues SCIAC action on Wednesday, February 11, when it faces off against the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Athenas (18-3, 12-0 SCIAC) at 7:30 p.m. in Currier Gym.
