REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team continues to roll as they picked up the season sweep over Pomona-Pitzer Saturday night following a 75-54 win inside Currier Gym.
Redlands has won their first two in the month of February and nine of their last ten as they improve to 16-5, 11-2 SCIAC. They also have a strong hold on 2nd Place within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Standings. The Maroon and Grey used a big second half to pull off the win and jumped on the shoulders of Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA) who had a record night scoring a team high 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting, which included a 4-of-9 mark from deep. With those 22 points, she has now tied Leslie Ferguson (1992-1995) for the career program scoring record with 1,576 career points.
All five starters for the Maroon and Grey hit double figures and accounted for 67 of the 75 points. Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Valencia, CA) and Colbi Zorich (Kenmore, WA) each added 12 points apiece. Pagkalinawan also had seven assists, five rebounds and a steal, while Zorich was 6-for-11 from the field. Hannah Jerrier (Canton, MA) posted another double double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. She also had three blocks and three assists. First year Aliyah Anderson (Oceanside, CA) chipped in with 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting to go with three rebounds, an assist and two steals and Julia Balestreri (Pleasanton, CA) again came up big off the bench with six points, six rebounds, and four blocks which tied a career-high.
The Bulldogs got off to a great start in the first two minutes of the game with a quick four points from Pagkalinawan and a triple from Downs as Redlands led 7-3.
At the 5:11 mark, Anderson scored off a Pagkalinawan assist to extend the lead to five, 15-10. That was the last basket for the Bulldogs as they went scoreless over the next five minutes as the Sagehens took advantage with nine unanswered to go in front 19-17 after one.
In the first four minutes of the second period the Bulldogs were outscored 6-5 as they trailed by one, 24-23. But in the final 5:45 UR shut down the PP offense, while outscoring them 14-0 as they held a 13-point lead, 37-24, at the break. During the run Downs hit back to back triples and a jumper, Jerrier added two free throws and Zorich and Balestreri both converted inside.
The third quarter was more competitive than the second with the Bulldogs stretching their lead to sixteen, 57-41, at the end of 30 minutes. Redlands' largest lead came at the 2:45 mark when Jerrier made a layup following an offensive rebound to push the margin to its largest of 19, 55-36.
The Sagehens started the final quarter with the first six points and held the Bulldogs scoreless for the first three plus minutes as the lead was cut to ten, 57-47.
Inside of six minutes to play, P-P got within single-digits for the first time since the 1:20 mark of the second quarter when Jerrier made a pair of free throws to make it an 11-point game. But Redlands responded with the next 11 points, which included six from Downs as she tied the career scoring record with 1:13 remaining. A late missed layup from Downs means she will have to wait to become the all-time leading scorer in program history on Wednesday night at Whittier College.
Redlands shot 45.9% from the field, 36.4% from three-point territory, and 93.8% from the free-throw line. They outrebounded the Sagehens on the glass 41-21, added 19 assists, 32 points off 17 PP turnovers and 24 points in the paint.
The Bulldogs return to the court this Wednesday, February 8 when they travel to take on Whittier College beginning at 7:00pm.