WHITTIER, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team picked up their third straight victory Tuesday night in a solid 71-54 victory over Whittier College.
The Maroon and Grey who were playing their first road game of the season improve to 5-1, 2-0 SCIAC, while handing the Poets their first loss within conference play dropping them to 4-3, 2-1 SCIAC.
"It was nice to get our first conference victory on the road against a good Whittier team," explained Head Coach Rich Murphy. "I was proud of our post play and the adjustments the whole team made to keep them involved. I was also pleased with our composure when Whittier made a couple of runs late, we were able to remain tough and come away with the win."
Hannah Jerrier (Canton, MA) and Julia Balestreri (Pleasanton, CA) used their length to lead the U of R offense each posting double-doubles. Jerrier finished with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting with 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. Balestreri came off the bench to play 21 minutes adding a season-high 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting, with 13 rebounds and going 6-for-8 from the free-throw line.
Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA) was the only other Bulldog to hit double figures posting 10 points with four boards and five assists. Jordan Smith (Tustin, CA) and Angelina Roque (San Diego, CA), despite having an off night still helped with the offense combining for 11 points, four rebounds, and 10 assists.
It was a quick start for the Bulldogs going in front 7-0 with Jerrier and Downs connecting inside on high low entries followed by a triple from Roque. The lead then stretched to 10-3 with Downs adding a deep strike from three-point territory and immediately after that the deficit then became double digits after UR put together a 10-2 spurt. During that run Downs again answered from deep and Jerrier converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way that moved the score to 20-9. Whittier though responded with nine of their own however and would get within two at 20-18 following back-to-back triples from Lainie James and Lizzie Scriven.
This would be the closest WC would get though as UR would hold them to single digits in the 2nd Quarter while putting up another 23 points to take a 44-28 lead into the break. During the ten minutes, Redlands shot a blistering 62% from the field, 67% from deep, and 71.4% from the charity stripe.
Out of the break, the Poets provided some pushback outscoring the U of R 17-12 in the 3rd Quarter and getting within 12 at 56-44. But again the deficit was too much to overcome as Redlands would tack on another 15 points across the final period led by Jerrier who provided another eight to her total.
Redlands shot 46% from the field, 29.4% from three-point territory, and 64% from the free-throw line. Despite being outrebounded 42-39, UR was able to add 24 points in the paint, 23 bench points, eight-second chance points, and 20 points off 16 Poet turnovers.
Redlands remains on the road this Thursday, December 16 when they take on the Master's College beginning at 5:00pm.