The No. 1 University of Redlands women's basketball team defeated No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, 62-55, in a tightly contested battle for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament Championship game inside Currier Gym on Saturday night. With the win, the Bulldogs receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
Both teams sized each other up with a score of 4-4 through the first five minutes. Although sophomore guard Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA) knocked down a quick triple, the Athenas went on a 4-0 run to gain a 10-7 advantage with under three minutes to go in the first. On the last play of the stanza, sophomore forward Hannah Jerrier (Canton, MA) lobbed the ball down low to junior forward Kellis Dack (Vancouver, WA) for a turnaround jumper to end the period with a score of 14-10 in favor of the Athenas.
The Maroon and Gray offense clicked with a 5-0 spurt that was capped by a trey from Downs to re-take the lead at 15-14 less than two minutes into the quarter. Momentum began to shift, as the visitors built a 28-23 lead, but Downs shut their run down with a short-range jumper with 1:37 left in the half. She drained another deep ball on the Bulldogs' last possession of the third to help send the Bulldogs into the locker room down by only two at 28-30.
Neither team could convert a field goal early in the second half until Lacey took the lid off the basket with a tough jumper at the 5:30-mark to knot the game at 30-30. On the next play, sophomore guard Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Torrance, CA) knocked the ball away for the steal that allowed Jerrier to convert a go-ahead jumper with 4:57 to go. The Bulldogs scored on five straight possessions, including another three-pointer from Downs, which helped Redlands head into the final 10 minutes of action with a 39-36 lead.
After the Athenas scored the first basket of the fourth, junior guard Alyssa Lee (Monterey Park, CA) won a 50/50 ball for an offensive rebound that she dished to Lacey for a layup that made it 41-37 just over a minute into the fourth.
Over the next few minutes, the ball bounced CMS's way on a 7-0 run that put them up, 44-41, pnear the midway point in the period. But out of a timeout, Lee executed and snuck a crafty pass to Jerrier for the layup. The defense anteed up with a steal from Dack that led to a layup from Lee to gain a 45-44 lead with 4:24 remaining in regulation.
Although CMS pulled back ahead, Jerrier dumped the ball back down low to Dack, who drained another turn-around jumper to make it 50-49 with just under a minute to go. The Athenas were forced to foul Downs, who sank a free throw to extend the lead to 51-49 with 15 seconds remaining in regulation. Unfortunately, CMS drew up a solid play out of a timeout to tie the game at 51-all with 10 seconds left. With possession back with the Athenas and three seconds on the clock. Dack rose up with two hands for the game-saving stuff to send the teams into overtime.
Lacey got Redlands off to a solid start in overtime with the first four points to make it 55-51 with less than three minutes to play. The Athenas quickly knotted the game back up at 55, but Downs answered with a clutch three-pointer off the assist from Lacey to re-take a 58-55 advantage with 2:08 to go.
With the conference's automatic bid on the line, the Bulldogs showed grit by curating a defensive run that featured six missed shots by the Athenas in the final two minutes of action. In addition, Dack shouldered the effort with a steal and another big block. With 31 seconds remaining, Downs made it a two-possession game by knocking down both of her free throws to make it 60-55. After another stop, Lee iced the game with another pair of free throws for the 62-55 championship victory.
For the game, Downs led all scorers with 22 points, including five three-pointers. Lacey added 19 points and took advantage of her trips to the line by going 5-for-5. Jerrier controlled the paint with 16 rebounds and an impressive five blocks. She also dished out five assists and scored seven points.
Redlands (21-6, 14-2 SCIAC) awaits the bracket selection show on Monday, March 2, to reveal who they will face in the first round of the upcoming NCAA Championships.
