With a solid team-effort, the University of Redlands women's basketball team continued its recent winning streak with a 69-39 trouncing of Ripon College (WI) on Saturday night to close out the Redlands Winter Classic. The Maroon and Gray has now won eight in a row, dating back to Nov. 26.
Although it took nearly two minutes to register their first basket of the night, the Bulldogs led wire-to-wire in a complete performance against the non-conference foes from Wisconsin. Junior guard Kaity Lykins (Simi Valley, CA) and senior guard Colleen Goeser (San Carlos, CA) combined offensive efforts to quickly make it 6-0 at the 16:16-mark of the first half.
Although Ripon cut the deficit in half with a three-pointer, the Maroon and Gray answered right back with another spurt of scoring, as senior forwardBrittany Oster (Agoura Hills, CA) and junior guard Kameran Dage(Walnut Creek, CA) both knocked down shots, making it 13-3.
Over the next four minutes, junior forward Nicole Packard (Thousand Oaks, CA) provided a solid spark off the bench, scoring seven points for the Bulldogs en route to a 22-7 lead with 8:34 left on the first-half clock.
One possession later, junior guard Caitlin Ciardella's (South San Francisco, CA) three-pointer capped off a 25-9 start to the game for the Bulldogs.
Redlands entered the locker room with a comfortable 31-19 halftime advantage after shooting 40.7%, as compared to Ripon's 25.8% showing.
During the second half, the Red Hawks cut the lead to 10 points but the momentum quickly returned to the Bulldogs, as Goeser knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to make it 39-25 with 15:28 to play in the game.
In addition, Redlands stymied any chance of a comeback by holding the opponents scoreless for more than six minutes late in the stanza.
As a team, the Bulldogs shot 43.3% overall, compared to Ripon's 25% showing. Redlands also converted seven three-pointers at a clip of 31.8%. The Red Hawks were 3-for-12 from downtown.
Oster topped all competitors with her 17-point, 11-rebound performance. Goeser finished the night with 13 points and three assists, while Lykins added seven points, four rebounds, and two steals. Senior forward Madison Sanders-Curry (San Jose, CA) dished out a game-high four assists to go along with four rebounds and four blocks.
Furthermore, the Bulldogs utilized 14 total players in the game, with 10 of them scoring at least two points. Freshman guard Selena Iriarte(Wilmington, CA) and sophomore guard Brittney Zec (Broomfield, CO) both came off the bench in the final few minutes and scored a bucket each.
For their impressive contributions to the team's 2-0 showing at the Redlands Winter Classic, Oster, Goeser, and Lykins represented the Bulldogs on the All-Tournament Team.
Nicole Herkert led the Red Hawks (3-7) with nine points and nine rebounds, while Kacie Cullen chipped in seven points and corralled nine boards.
After the game, Packard talked about the Maroon and Gray's win and continued success as a a team.
Redlands (10-2, 3-0 SCIAC) resumes Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action on Sat., Jan. 4, when it travels to Pomona-Pitzer Colleges for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Sagehens. The Bulldogs then return home on Thurs., Jan. 9, for a 7:30 p.m. bout against Caltech.
In the first game of the day, Chapman used a 55.2% shooting effort in the second half to pull away from the Beloit College (WI) Buccaneers, winning by a score of 69-55.
With the score knotted at 37 with 15:48 remaining in the game, the Panthers broke this final tie of the game by putting together a 21-8 run. Kimi Takaoka carried her team during this spurt by rattling off 15 of her game-high 27 points.
Leading by a score of 58-45 with 7:30 left on the clock, Chapman took care of business down the stretch, expanding their lead to as many as 17 points.
In addition to Takaoka's impressive performance, Chapman (7-3) gained 10 points apiece from Lynne Higashigawa, Sandra Gao, and Natalia Ebrahimian. Gao also pulled in a game-high nine rebounds.
For their efforts, Takaoka and Gao represented the Panthers on the All-Tournament Team.
Beloit's (2-7) Lauren McNanna did all she could to carry her team, scoring 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting. She also registered five rebounds, three assists, and three steals in the loss.
Overall, Chapman converted 49.2% of its shots, as compared to the Buccaneers' 39.1% showing.