REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team opened up Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play Wednesday night with a 68-45 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, which was a rematch of the 2019-20 SCIAC Championship finale.
The Maroon and Grey have now won two in a row and improve to 4-1, 1-0 SCIAC, while Claremont-M-S drops to 2-5, 0-1 SCIAC.
Angelina Roque (San Diego, CA), Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA) and Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Valencia, CA) each recorded double figures for the fifth consecutive game. Roque went off for a season high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting to go with six rebounds and two assists. Downs provided a strong 18-point effort going 6-of-10 from the field, four of which were from downtown coupled with seven rebounds. Pagkalinawan was the final bulldog in double figures with 11, shooting 50% from the field along with providing four assists and a steal.
It was a hot start in the 1st Quarter for UR outscoring CMS 17-5, with Roque providing eight of the points all coming during a 10-0 run that she sparked with a three-pointer followed by an and one, which moved the score to 12-2.
Claremont-M-S though flipped the table in the 2nd Quarter however capitalizing on early foul trouble by the Bulldogs and outscoring UR 19-11 as they would get within four at the half (28-24). But this momentum wouldn't carry into the second half as Head Coach Rich Murphy would make some adjustments at the half, which would lead to Redlands pouring it on across the final 20:00 minutes. They would outscore CMS 40-21 and would hold them to single digits in the 3rd Quarter for the second time on the night.
The Athenas got within two on a couple of occasions early in the second half, but that's as close as they would get as a 12-2 run would move the lead back to double digits at 42-30. During this span sophomore guard Leah Tan (Alhambra, CA) went off providing six consecutive points, which included a three-pointer, a steal and a layin and then a free throw. After that UR extended their lead closing the frame off with six unanswered, as Roque would connect on a pair of jumpers giving UR a 48-32 advantage.
CMS attempted one final push in the 4th Quarter putting on a press in order to force turnovers, but it would come up empty as Redlands would put up another 20 points behind a 50% shooting mark from the field, while going 3-of-5 (60%) from deep. Down the stretch they continued to convert and would see their lead grow to 26 as they would run away with the victory.
The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 44.8% from the field, 44.4% from three-point territory and were at a 61.5% clip from the free-throw line. Their height proved difficult for the Athenas as they outrebounded CMS 37-23, while earning 18 points in the paint and 12 points off turnovers.
Redlands has an extended break in order to prepare for their first road game, which will come on Tuesday, December 14 against Whittier College beginning at 7:00pm.