ORANGE, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team picked up a hard fought road win Wednesday night outscoring the Chapman University Panthers in three of the four quarters en route to the 62-56 win.
The Bulldogs stretch their winning streak to seven games, improving to 14-4, 9-1 SCIAC. They complete the season sweep over the Panthers and continue to hold firmly to the No. 2 slot within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Standings. They remain a game behind undefeated La Verne (18-1, 10-0) and a game ahead of Claremont-M-S.
Colbi Zorich (Kenmore, WA) led the Maroon and Grey finishing with 15 points on 50% shooting along with six rebounds. Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA) put up 14 points and six rebounds and Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Valencia, CA) provided a 10 point, four assist effort.
After scoring the first point of the game on an Aliyah Anderson (Oceanside, CA) free throw, the Bulldogs fell behind by five, 10-5, with just over four minutes left in the opening quarter.
Redlands was able to breakout of their offensive funk with six in a row, four of which came from Zorich that spanned the final four minutes putting them back on top, 11-10 following the first ten minutes.
Both teams traded baskets to start the second period before the U of R took their largest lead of the game at five, 23-18, thanks to a three-pointer and layup from Downs, followed by a triple from Pagkalinawan with 4:45 left in the half.
The Panthers would go on to score seven unanswered reclaiming the lead, 25-23, with 2:25 remaining. Following a pair of runs from each team, the Bulldogs would put together one final push as they went in front 29-25 after scoring the final six points for the second straight quarter, four coming from Hannah Jerrier (Canton, MA) and a pair of free throws from Downs.
In the first minute of the third quarter the Bulldogs earned a quick three points from Anderson as their lead grew to seven, 32-25. A Pagkalinawan jumper two minutes later gave them their largest lead at nine, 36-27.
Over the final seven minutes of the quarter the Bulldog offense stalled, scoring only six points as their lead sat at one after 30:00 minutes.
The Maroon and Grey were able to grow their lead to six, 52-46, at the 6:08 mark of the fourth quarter. But Chapman had other thoughts stringing together six unanswered, tying the game for the first time since leading with 2:25 left in the first half. These would be the final points scored for CU though as UR would go on to add the final four points of the game off a Zorich layup and free throw and another free throw from Downs.
All but six of the Bulldog points came from their starters with all six of those bench points coming courtesy of Julia Balestreri (Pleasanton, CA). The Bulldogs shot 38.3% from the field, 33.3% from deep and 59.1% from the free-throw line. They outrebounded the Panthers 45-41, had 12 assists, 19 points off turnovers, 14 second chance points and 26 points in the paint.
Redlands will stay on the road this Saturday, January 28 traveling to Thousand Oaks, CA to take on the Regals of California Lutheran University beginning at 5:00pm.