California Baptist University
Academy of Art
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2/3/2013 3:58:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Lancers held off a scrappy Academy of Art team to take an 85-68 win and hand the Urban Knights their third conference loss of the season.
"I think Mekiala Qualls and Jasmine Beverly did an especially good job for us tonight down low," said CBU Head Coach Jarrod Olson. "Even when we were forced to go small Brittney Lewis came in and did a great job on the boards. That was key for us."
After taking a 20 point lead into the break the Lancers had to stave off a hard charge from the Urban Knights in the opening 5 minutes of the second period.
A 15-6 run by the visitors, sparked by seven Lancer turnovers during that span, cut the CBU lead to 51-40. Amy Browne responded with a three from the Elbow and Beverly knocked down a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 16 points.
Art U would cut it to 11 several more times, but never got the Lancers' advantage under double digits. A 7-0 run just before the 5:00 mark pushed CBU's advantage to 77-59 and despite being plagued by turnovers the Lancers never let the Knights within 15 the rest of the way.
"I'm not really sure what was wrong with us coming out of the break," said Olson. We were just out of rhythm. We talked about getting a good start but it took us a while to get going. That's something we have to keep working on. It was good we were able to score and hang on."
CBU had four players in double figures for the second straight game, led by a season high 27 points from Beverly. Browne added 18 for CBU, hitting 6 of 8 field goals, 2 of 2 from beyond the arc. It was Browne's career high as a Lancer.
"Amy's got a really good feel for the game," said Olson. "She's been playing better and better as the year has gone on, really playing with confidence. We need that from her going forward."
CBU owned a 43-35 advantage on the boards, getting a game high 12 rebounds from Lewis.
The Lancers' season high 57.4 percent shooting clip helped the team overcome a season high 24 turnovers in the game.
The Urban Knights were led by Regina Camera with 14 points and Jordan Rogers with 10. Art U shot 30.6 percent from the floor.
The win moves the Lancers to 13-5 overall, 7-3 PacWest and drops the Urban Knights to 14-6, 7-3, further cluttering the already crowded top of the conference standings. There are now four teams with three losses in the PacWest, one with two and one with one.
CBU closes out its four game home stand against Dominican on Monday before heading to Hawaii for four games.
