REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team (18-7, 12-4) took down Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) 79-75 Thursday night in one of two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament Semi-Finals after erasing a 13-point first quarter deficit.
With the win the Bulldogs will play at the No. 1 seed University of La Verne, who beat California Lutheran University in the other SCIAC Tournament Semi-Final. The finale will take place on Saturday, February 25 with the winner earning the AQ Bid into the NCAA Division III National Championships.
"I can't be more proud of this group facing adversity with the 13-point deficit early," explained Head Coach Rich Murphy. "They weathered the storm and didn't quit and during a timeout I told them their shots will fall, stay in the process. Claremont-M-S is a strong team and they had a week of preparation for us, while we had to focus our attention on La Verne in our season finale before turning our sights on the SCIAC Tournament."
In the first four minutes of the game the Bulldogs trailed by two, 6-4, after Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Valencia, CA) and Aliyah Anderson (Oceanside, CA) each made a pair of free throws. But over the next four and a half minutes the Athenas would rattle of 14 unanswered points taking a 20-7 lead. Leila Hosn (Seattle, WA), though, provided a spark off the bench ended the quarter on a personal 4-0 run to get Redlands within nine, 20-11.
It was a slow offensive start to the second quarter as the Bulldogs and Athenas combined for only six points in the first three plus minutes. Over the next five and a half Redlands came all the way back to jump in front 29-26, grabbing their first lead of the game, thanks to a 15-3 run.
The Bulldogs would end the half leading by four, 33-29 after scoring twenty of the final twenty six points over the final 5:37. During the run Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA) scored six points including a four-point play at the 1:22 mark that took them from a one-point deficit, 26-25, to a three-point lead, 29-26.
In the opening two minutes of the third quarter the Athenas made a pair of free throws to pull within two, 33-31, but the Bulldogs would score six of the next eight with Colbi Zorich (Kenmore, WA) adding four of them.
In talking about first-year Colbi Zorich and what she has brought, Murphy had high accolades stating "Colbi has been solid all season for us, one of our top defenders and she is always going up against players bigger and stronger than she is. But she does not back down from a match-up and is relentless on both ends."
CMS had a response to UR taking their largest lead of the game as they drew within one, 41-40, following a made three with four minutes left in the period. Despite the close calls, the Bulldogs never relinquished the lead and led by six, 49-43, after three quarters.
The Athenas seemed to find some offensive and defensive rhythm to start the fourth as they outscored the Bulldogs 7-1 in the first :90 seconds, tying the game at 50. Then at the 7:47 mark CMS jumped in front leading, 52-50, for the first time since the final minutes of the first half.
After another tie, this time at 56-56, the Bulldogs seemed to pull away for the win with 2:53 left after Zorich hit a jumper off a Downs' assist as they extended their lead to the largest of the game at nine, 65-56.
Over the next minute CMS got themselves back in it with a 6-0 run to get the game back to a one-possession game. Then with less than two minutes to play the Bulldogs came up clutch at the charity stripe splitting a pair of free throws and leading by two possessions, 69-64.
Following a made free throw from Anderson and two makes from Pagkalinawan with :24 seconds remaining, Redlands appeared to have the win in hand, leading 73-67. But that was not the case as CMS would knock down a three five seconds later and then after another pair of made free throws, this time from Downs, the Athenas closed the gap to just two with a second three with only eight seconds left.
Over the final ticks graduates Pagkalinawan and Downs would combine to go a perfect 4-for-4 from the line, which sealed the win 79-75.
The Bulldogs received 20-point games from Pagkalinawan and Zorich. Zorich tied a career-high with 12 rebounds, tying her game against CMS last week, and she tied her career-high with three blocks, which came at CMS (Jan. 18). Downs added 19 points, three rebounds, and three assists while converting on all eight of her free throws.
The two teams combined for 81 free throws (48-33) while only attempting 19 threes (6-13). The Bulldogs overcame making four fewer field goals, three three-point field goals thanks to a plus 15 mark at the line where they shot 81.3 percent (39-48).
With the win the Bulldogs' season continues as they faceoff with the University of La Verne for the second time in a week this Saturday, February 25 as they look to get their first win of the season against the Leopards after getting swept in the regular season. Tip-off for the championship game is 5:00 p.m.
"This will be a battle Saturday night," Murphy stated. "Our team needs rest and we will need to put together our best effort if we are going to pick up the win over a very good La Verne team who lost only one game in SCIAC all-season. But we will be ready because this is a special group who wants to get back to the NCAA Tournament."
