WHITTIER, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team was without two key starters Wednesday night and it proved costly as they would fall 83-72 on the road to Whittier College.
The Bulldogs were without joint all-time scoring leader Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA) and first-year Colbi Zorich (Kenmore, WA) who were both out due to illness and the Poets capitalized. Redlands drops to 16-6, 11-3 SCIAC and are now in a tie for 2nd place within the conference standings with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
It was the defensive end that broke down for the Maroon and Grey, which allowed the Poets to shoot 46% from the field, which included 11 triples (50%).
Julia Balestreri (Pleasanton, CA) led the Bulldogs with a career-high 20 points while adding a season-high 12 rebounds and again tying her career high for blocks with four. She also had career-highs of four assists and three steals.
Hannah Jerrier (Canton, MA) added another good game to her final season as she had 18 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks. With Downs out, Aliyah Anderson (Oceanside, CA) added some playmaking to her responsibilities, dishing out a career-high six assists, scoring 16 points, and grabbing four rebounds.
Redlands trailed for most of the first five minutes of the game, but went on an 8-2 run over the next three minutes sparked by an Anderson triple putting UR on top 18-13 with 2:05 left in the quarter. During the period the Bulldogs shot 42.9% from the field, 66.7% from deep and saw Jerrier total six points.
The first six points of the second quarter went the way of the Purple & Gold as they went up 23-18, stretching their run to ten unanswered. A few minutes later the Bulldogs found themselves down six, 26-20, but it wasn't for very long as Jerrier, Anderson, and Balestreri would each score giving Redlands a 27-26 lead.
Despite only scoring 11 points in the second quarter, the Bulldogs only trailed by two, 31-29, at halftime.
With under three minutes to play in the third quarter the Bulldogs trailed by their largest deficit of the game, seven, 49-42. This did not deter the U of R as they came roaring back to tie the game at 49-49 behind a layin from Leila Hosn (Seattle, WA), three free throws from Anderson and Balestreri, and a layup from Leaya McKinney (Sedalia, CO).
The response was short lived though as the Poets would go on to score the final five points of the quarter taking a 54-49 lead into the final period.
The quick 5-0 run to end the third turned into an 11-0 surge for WC in the first :41 seconds of the fourth as the Bulldogs went from a tie game to an 11-point deficit, 60-49, in less than a minute and a half.
Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Valencia, CA) hit a three to move the deficit to single digits sparking another UR comeback, this time seven in a row that got them within two possessions, 60-54. The four points was as close as Redlands would get the rest of the way as Whittier would score ten of the next twelve points to take a 70-58 lead with 4:00 minutes left.
Jerrier and Balestreri tried to put together a late rally adding a layup and jumper followed by Anderson knocking down a triple that made it a seven-point game. But time was not on their side as four free-throws down the stretch would secure the win for the Poets.
Redlands shot 42.4% from the field, 35.7% from three-point territory and 80% from the free-throw line. They outrebounded the Poets 41-35, added 34 points in the paint, 21 second chance points and 15 points off turnovers.
The Bulldogs will look to get back on track following a weekend bye with a matchup inside Currier Gym against Claremont-M-S with SCIAC Tournament seeding on the line on Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m.