TALE OF TWO HALVES
RIVERSIDE, Calif. ? Seemingly on its way to the largest victory of the year, California Baptist had to fight off a charging Concordia team to notch an 82-65 win, Tuesday night. The Lancers (12-5, 6-4 GSAC) who led by 23 late in the first half, watched their lead drop all the way to nine in the final minutes.
“I definitely think we were threatened in the second half,” said CBU head coach Danelle Bishop. “We played a hard first half and when you play that hard, the game will take care of itself. “
Nicole Wilhite scored a career-high 20 points in the win over the Eagles (8-12, 2-8 GSAC). Nicole Davis and Brenna Hahn each scored 16 points while Davis was just one assist shy of a double-double. Bryana Williams recorded her fourth double-double of the year by ripping down 16 rebounds and scoring 12 points.
“I think Nicole's (Wilhite) shot selection has been much better over the last couple of games,” said Bishop. “We were able to get her the ball when she had good looks at the goal. She not only shot the ball well, but set her teammates up with some great passes too. In most games Bryana has no problem hitting her goals for rebounds and tonight was no different.”
Midway though the conference season, the Lancers have the best record at the half-way point (in GSAC play) since the 1989-90 season when they went 9-1.
CBU hit 46.7 percent (28-for-60) from the field and nailed seven treys, three of which came from Wilhite (3-for-4). The Lancers also hit 19-of-27 from the charity stripe.
It was scoring by committee in the opening half for the Lancers as all but one CBU player scored and no more than six points separated all scorers. Davis and Hahn each had nine at the half while Williams was just a field goal short of a double-double with 13 first-half rebounds and eight points to the Lancers get out to a 45-24 advantage at intermission.
The Lancers opened the game on a 16-2 run and took their biggest lead of the game late in the second half, at 42-19.
Concordia opened the second half with a 16-8 run, but the Lancers answered with seven straight to take a 60-41 lead. CBU led 74-61 with 3:59 left before a pair of buckets by the Eagles closed the gap to 76-65 with 2:50 left.
Six straight free throws, two by Jeanine Deno and four by Hahn, and a Davis jumper sealed the win for CBU in the final two minutes.
The Lancers now hit the road for a two-game stretch when they travel to Westmont, Feb. 2, and to Vanguard, Feb. 5. Both games tip-off at 5:30 p.m.
