California Baptist University
Pacific Union
OPENING ACT
11/8/2008 8:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. ? From the opening tip California Baptist was off and running as the Lancers opened the 2008-09 season with a 100-45 win over Pacific Union.
It was the largest margin of victory since the 2005-06 season when the Lancers (1-0) defeated La Sierra 98-42.
“One of the things we have been working on is our pressure defense and pushing the ball up the court,” said CBU head coach Danelle Bishop. “I don't know how many points we had in the paint, but most of them were off fast breaks or turnovers. We did a great job of putting pressure on the ball tonight.”
Four different Lancers scored in double figures as Brenna Hahn led the way with a game-high 20 points. The sophomore went 8-for-15 from the field and dished out five assists. Heather Couzens and Alyson Haley each made a grand entrance to the Van Dyne Gym as Couzens scored 19 and Haley had 18. Haley scored 16 of those points in the second half and just missed a double-double with eight rebounds.
“Most of the sets we ran were run pretty well,” said Bishop. “Heather was pretty dominant tonight. We told her after the UCSD game that she wasn't playing like the player we recruited. She did everything we asked her to do tonight.”
Bryana Williams also added 12 points and eight boards while Nicole Davis and Megan Bradford each scored nine. Kendra Morris also dished out eight assists.
The Lancers shot 50 percent (41-for-82) from the field and pulled down nearly 50 boards.
It took less than a minute for California Baptist to lead 9-0 and outscored the Pioneers 17-2 in the first 3:40 of the game. Leading 19-6, CBU went on a 12-2 run to take a 31-8 lead and eventually took their biggest lead of the half (55-23) on a pair of Couzens free throws with just seven seconds left.
CBU opened the second half with a 13-1 run, but the Pioneers answered with a 7-0 run to make it 68-31. Another 11-3 run by the Lancers gave them a 79-34 lead.
Leading 95-43 with just a little more than a minute left, the crowd came to life when Bradford drained her third trey of the half to put CBU up 98-43. The “Crazies” erupted when Couzens put CBU at the century mark with 40 seconds left.
Depsite scoring 100 points, California Baptist turned the ball over 15 times and shot just 26.3 percent from the outside.
“We really need to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” said Bishop. “Tonight and in the exhibition we turned the ball over too much. I think tonight we just got a little too excited and tried to do too much.”
California Baptist will now get set to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah where the Lancers will play in the Westminster Tournament, Nov. 13-15.
