LA VERNE, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team avoided the road upset at the University of La Verne Wednesday night thanks to a big fourth quarter that erased a nine-point deficit as they pulled out the 80-70 victory.
With the win the Bulldogs improve to 16-4, 12-2 SCIAC, maintain their lead at the top spot within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings, have won three in a row and five of their last six and are a game away from securing the 2021-22 SCIAC Regular Season Championship Title. With two games left on the schedule the U of R hold a two-game lead on Whittier College, who they split the season series with.
Recently the Bulldogs have been relying on their bench to provide a spark, but Wednesday night four of the five starters played 32 plus minutes and scored 69 of the 80 points. On the evening the Bulldogs shot 43.1% from the field, 13% from three-point territory and 81.5% from the free-throw line. They committed 20 fouls that gave the Leopards 30 free throw attempts, but did haul in 51 rebounds, while totaling 32 points in the paint. Defensively, they held La Verne to 26.3% shooting and totaled a couple steals and five blocks.
In the first ten minutes the Bulldogs had a fight from the start with the Leopards leading 5-0 and 8-2. The deficit would then grow to nine, 15-6 at the 5:45 mark. After the Bulldogs had remained scoreless across 3:31, Angelina Roque (San Diego, CA) converted on a layup and started a 10-2 run that included three-point plays from Leah Tan (Alhambra, CA) and Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Valencia, CA). At the end of the first period the Bulldogs did trail by four but had momentum.
Despite the push by UR to end the opening frame the Bulldogs did not find a basket until the 6:40 mark of the 2nd Quarter thanks to a Pagkalinawan jumper. Then in the final five minutes Pagkalinawan, Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA), and Roque swung the momentum again giving the Bulldogs their first lead at 26-23 with 3:28 left. This advantage extended to seven thanks to six unanswered behind a jumper and layup from Roque and a pair of free throws from Downs. But this lead was cut to four across the final 1:41 as ULV would tack on seven moving the score to 37-33 at the half.
The Maroon and Grey offense remained cold to start the second half, but unlike the last time, the Leopards took advantage and went on top 39-37. Tan stopped the run with a jumper soon after and Hannah Jerrier (Canton, MA) followed inside giving Redlands the 43-41 lead with 5:19 left. After that the game remained deadlocked on another four occasions, the last coming at 51-51 before UR was able to go in front thanks to layins from Roque and Jerrier and they would hold it for the final 2:43.
Redlands started the 4th Quarter off strong as their advantage grew to seven, 63-56, at the 7:09 mark with Downs knocking down a triple and a jumper. The Leopards closed the deficit to within two with 5:41 left, but the Bulldogs quickly extinguished that swing and led by multiple possessions the rest of the way.
Pagkalinawan had a great all-around performance with 12 points, seven assists, two rebounds, a steal, and a block. Roque then built off a 20-point performance on Monday with 24 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and a steal, Downs had 17 points, four rebounds, and three assists, and Jerrier had her ninth game with double-digit rebounds of as she chipped in with a double double of 17 rebounds, 16 points and a pair of blocks.
The Bulldogs remain on the road this Saturday, February 12 with a trip to Cal Lutheran University with tipoff set for 4:00pm.