SUNBIRD SLAUGHTER
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- In the final regular-season game of the year, the No. 6 California Baptist University celebrated by handing Fresno Pacific a 93-56 beating Saturday night.
On senior night, CBU got big games from its three seniors as
Dana Olsen scored 20 points,
Brenna Hahn added 19 and
Chynna Burwell had 13 and eight rebounds.
“I'm most impressed with the fact that we had 28 assists on 34 baskets,” said Head Coach John Marcum. “That's really sharing the basketball and playing unselfishly. We shot well, played good defense and got big nights from a lot of players.”
S.J. Simmons had 12 of the Lancers' 28 assists en route to a triple-double. She also scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
Fresno Pacific opened the game with a 2-0 lead, but CBU wasted no time in going on a 19-0 run. The game was never close from there on out as the Lancers shot 57 percent in the first half to take a 46-18 lead into the break.
CBU continued its dominance in the second half, going up by as much as 42.
On the game the Lancers shot 52.3 percent from the floor and 41.9 percent from beyond the arc.
Brenna Hahn hit five of the Lancers' 13 3-pointers in the game, the first of which moved her to fourth on CBU's all-time list.
“I can't say enough about our seniors as well,” said Marcum. “Brenna adds so much character, leadership and consistency to our team. Chynna has definitely stepped up as of late and Dana has been mrs. consistency all year. In my opinion Dana is probably the best player in the conference and one of the top five in the country.”
The Sunbirds were led by Jessica Torrecillas, who scored her 1,500th career point in the game. She had 13 points on the night.
With the win the Lancers move to 23-7 overall and 16-4 GSAC. Fresno Pacific finishes its season 8-22, 1-19.
CBU locked up the second-seed on the GSAC tournament with its 16th conference victory. The Lancers will move on to host The Master's next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. to open the postseason.
“It's like a whole new season from here on out,” said Marcum. “We can't try and pace ourselves now. We have to play with a sense of urgency every game or we go home. It's nice that we get to start out at home. We have a couple of days to prepare and we'll be ready.”
The Lancers defeated The Master's in both of the teams meeting this season.
