The University of Redlands women's basketball team heads to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament for the ninth-consecutive time, having advanced every year since the event's inception. This season, the Bulldogs became the No. 4 -seed after compiling a conference record of 9-7. For the second year in a row, Redlands faces off against the top-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Athenas in the semifinal, which takes place on Thursday, February 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the Linde Activities Center on the campus of Harvey Mudd.
The No. 2-seeded Chapman University Panthers (14-2 SCIAC) hosts the No. 3-seeded Cal Lutheran Regals (12-4 SCIAC) in Thursday's other semifinal at 7:30 p.m. in Orange.
The highest remaining seed after Thursday's contests will host the SCIAC Postseason Tournament Championship game on Saturday, February 29, at a time to be announced.
All SCIAC students, faculty, and staff with an institutional ID, and children under the age of 12 are eligible for free admission. The general admission fee is $10. Seniors (55+) and military personnel receive a discounted price of $5.
Fans may also follow the action via Live Stats and web streaming. The cost for the video broadcast is $10, as per SCIAC policy.
On Saturday, February 20, the Bulldogs spoiled the Athenas' perfect conference record by defeating them in a hard-fought 58-51 decision in Currier Gym. Junior forward Jade Cheldelin (Portland, OR) led the Maroon and Gray with 14 points, while sophomore forward Reyna Ta'amu (Lakewood, CA) was two rebounds shy of a double-double after flushing 10 points and hauling in eight rebounds.
Overall, senior forward Brinsley Farry (Ventura, CA) captains the squad while starting in all 25 games this season. She has averaged seven points and seven rebounds per game. Cheldelin leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 11.2 points per game. Sophomore guard Courtney Chen (La Canada, CA) runs the offense at the point-guard position by averaging three assists per game, to go along with averages of 7.2 points and 1.9 steals.
The Athenas look to sophomore center Kailee Severt (Moorpark, CA) as their main source of offense, as she owns a scoring average of 13.1 points per game. Junior forward Kris Brackmann (Mercer Island, WA) backs her with nine points and five rebounds per game.
The other semifinal match-up features the No. 2 Chapman Panthers and No. 3 Cal Lutheran Regals, with the Panthers holding the edge in the regular season by twice defeating the Regals in a pair of extremely tight contests. The second victory required double overtime to get the job done.