REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team made quick work of the University of La Verne Wednesday night rolling to the 80-51 victory inside Currier Gym.
The Maroon and Grey remain red hot within conference play and are off to one of the best starts in program history as they improve to 11-2, 7-0 SCIAC. They extend their winning streak to six games, have won nine of their last ten and move to 8-1 at home. The last time the Bulldogs started the season off this strong was back in 2009-10 when they went 13-3 to start the season. That year they finished 22-6, 12-2 SCIAC and qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships.
Redlands proved tough all night for the top scoring offense in the conference holding La Verne to just 51 points, 34.6 points below their season average. They also held the conference's top scorer in Marissa Howell to zero points on 0-for-7 shooting. Three players recorded double digit scoring efforts for the Maroon and Grey led by Angelina Roque (San Diego, CA) who tossed in 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. She was joined by Julia Balestreri (Pleasanton, CA) who came off the bench to add 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting coupled with six rebounds. Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Valencia, CA) found her form once again providing an 11-point, five rebound, five assist, two steal effort and Hannah Jerrier (Canton, MA) despite only having nine points was able to total 16 rebounds (14 defensively) with two assists, two steals, and three blocks.
All 12 players on the Bulldog squad found playing time with Starla Murillo (Fremont, CA) adding four points, four rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Leah Tan provided five points, which included a triple and Mira Allen (Santa Ana, CA) and Leaya Mckinney (Sedalia, CO) combined for six points and four boards.
It was a slow start to the game with a combined 14 points being scored across the opening ten minutes. The U of R was able to hold ULV to just five points but only led by four thanks to Jerrier who had five of the nine points for Redlands.
Things settled down in the 2nd Quarter for the Maroon and Grey as they put up 28 points on a blistering 73% shooting frame, which included a 4-of-5 mark from behind the arc. Roque went off in the period for 13 points going a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA) provided an eight-point spark that gave UR a seventeen-point lead at the break.
The offense carried over into the 3rd Quarter as Redlands put up another 24 points this time seeing Balestreri take over with six points, while Pagkalinawan, Jordan Smith (Tustin, CA), and Roque combined for another thirteen as they opened the game up. Things got worse for the Leopards in the 4th seeing the Bulldogs extend their lead to as many as 38 at the 5:53 mark and that's when Head Coach Rich Murphy emptied his bench letting the reserves play the rest of the way.
UR finished the game shooting 52.3% from the field, 27.8% from three-point territory, and 58.3% from the free-throw line. They totaled 38 rebounds with a season high 23 assists to go with 48 points in the paint, 16 fast break points, 28 points from the bench and 17 points off turnovers.
Redlands returns to the court this Saturday, January 22 when they travel to Claremont-M-S to take on the Athenas beginning at 7:00pm.