California Baptist University
Marygrove (Mich.)
WORKING OUT THE KINKS
11/29/2008 8:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. ? Playing in front of the home fans for the first time in three weeks, the Lancers stopped just about every run Marygrove (Mich.) put up in a 66-56 win inside Van Dyne Gym. Marygrove never trailed by double digits until the final buzzer sounded.
“The effort and intensity was there tonight, but we still played sloppy,” said CBU head coach Danelle Bishop. “We turned the ball over too much and a lot of them were unforced. We are still trying to get some cohesiveness out there. We see it at times in practice, but we just haven't seen it yet in our games.”
Nicole Davis led the way for CBU (3-2) scoring a game-high 20 points while going 7-for-13 from the floor. The Lancers also got 19 points from Heather Couzens who also grabbed six rebounds. Brenna Hahn was the only other Lancer to score in double figures with 11.
Brianna Estell recorded her first minutes of the year after sitting out the first part of the year due to a knee injury. The sophomore transfer from the University San Diego scored four points and dished out six assists.
“She's only been back for about a week and a half so we are just trying to get her into things,” said Bishop. “She's still learning the system, but she's doing a great job. She distributed the ball well tonight and pushed the pace and created a lot of shot opportunities for her teammates.”
The Lancers shot 44.6 percent (25-56) from the field and out rebounded Marygrove 66-56. CBU also forced 26 turnovers, scoring 24 points off of those turnovers. The Lancers also dominated the paint out scoring Marygrove 43-26 down low.
There were seven lead changes in the first half alone with no team gaining more than a seven-point advantage. California Baptist didn't lead by more than four until a Couzens jumper snapped a 24-24 tie and sparked a 7-0 run. Davis put CBU 29-24 with a traditional three-point play then capped the run with a layup to give the Lancers their biggest lead of the half at 31-24.
The Mustangs' Jacquis Bullock drained a trey with just second left before the end of the half to give cut the score to 31-27.
Marygrove cut to it to 31-29 at the start of the second half, but CBU pushed it out to 36-29 with a trey from Hahn and a layup by Alyson Haley.
The Mustangs got within one twice at 48-47 and 50-49 before the Lancers went on a 9-3 run to take a 59-52 lead with 4:17 left to play. CBU put it away by outscoring Marygrove 7-2 in the final four minutes.
“We just finally started playing smart down the stretch,” said Bishop. “We got a few stops and executed our offense and that led to a couple of easy buckets inside in the end.”
California Baptist now gets set for Golden State Athletic Conference play as they host San Diego Christian Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
