ANCHORAGE, Alaska – After picking up its first NCAA playoff victory the day before, California Baptist University had its eye on a trip to the Division II West Region Championship round.
 
With a familiar foe standing in the way, the Lancers refused to be denied and steamrolled Point Loma, 73-46, in the regional semifinals hosted at the Alaska Airlines Center on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage. Despite it being the fourth matchup between the Lancers and Sea Lions, CBU did not shy away from its game and used a swarming defense and well-rounded offense to advance into the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen.
 
"I would say of all the teams we've played all year that's the team we know the best," Coach Jarrod Olson said of PLNU. "There couldn't have been a team we were more prepared to play."
 
It showed. The Lancers scored 14 of the first 18 points and never looked back from there.

In nearly every aspect, the Lancers came out on top. They shot 41.8 percent (28-of-67) from the field and 46.2 (12-of-26) from three-point range and held PLNU to 26.5 (18-of-68) and 18.2 (4-of-22) in those categories. CBU out-rebounded the Sea Lions 51-40 and cut through their 2-3 zone defense with crisp passing that led to a 23-10 advantage in assists.

With a 26-6 record and in its first NCAA postseason appearance, fifth-seeded CBU moves into the West Region championship game with seventh-ranked Cal Poly Pomona. The game will be played Monday at 8 p.m. PDT. The Broncos defeated Seattle Pacific 90-74 to move on after a game that was closer than it appears from the score.
 
"Pomona will be a really tough game for us, it's a much different team than we've played the last couple of weeks," Olson said. "They're really big and we know we'll have our work cut out for us. We'll just enjoy tonight and tomorrow we'll start getting ready for them."

PLNU's season came to a close a night after it defeated top-seeded and top-ranked Alaska Anchorage on its home floor, 64-63. The physical and emotional impact of that game was clearly still wearing on the eighth-seeded Sea Lions, who end the year at 20-12.
 
"I think they just brought the best out of us," Olson said of the Sea Lions. "We've had some really tough games with them throughout the season. We knew we had to play our A-game tonight and we came out with it. Obviously, last night took a lot out of them and we just didn't let up."
 
Courtney Nelson, Kamille Diaz, Cassidy Mihalko and Darsha Burnside came into the game averaging more than 10 points a game for CBU, and all finished in double digits Saturday. Diaz (5-for-10, 4-of-8 from three) and Nelson (5-for-12, 1-for-2) tied for a game-high in points with 14 each. Mihalko was right behind them with 13 (5-for-10, 3-of-5) and Burnside joined the rest with a double-double – 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting and 14 rebounds in limited minutes.

"Every time we've played PLNU this year we've been down and had to battle back because they come out strong," Mihalko said. "This game, it was really important for us to get ahead in the beginning, work as a team and have a good team game."
  
Burnside added four blocks and altered countless others, while Diaz dished out a game-high eight assists. Nelson also finished with nine boards for the Lancers, who received eight from Olivia Weber. Chanel Cambronero led CBU's offense effectively at point guard, scoring six points, grabbing four rebounds and dropping three dimes.
 
After a bit of a slow start, it did not take long for the Lancers to put Point Loma away. Both teams struggled to find the basket, combining to miss the first nine shots of the game. CBU caught fire to more than make up for it and take a 14-4 lead.
 
Burnside got CBU going by scoring the first points of the game with a jump shot more than two minutes in. Nelson cashed in a free-throw line jumper 31 seconds later to give the Lancers a 4-0 edge. PLNU got on the board with a layup from Madison West, but CBU ran away from there, scoring 10-straight points on layups from Mihalko and Burnside and threes from Diaz and Mihalko.
 
A 9-0 sprint fueled by four Burnside points, a Diaz jumper and Nelson three increased the Lancers' cushion to 26-6 with 8:42 left in the half. The good vibes kept coming for CBU, with Diaz drilling two treys in the final 31 seconds, the last of which beat the buzzer to send the Lancers into the break with a humongous 43-15 lead.
 
Burnside was dominant inside, posting her double-double in her first 16 minutes on the floor with 13 rebounds, 10 points and three blocks in the first half.
 
"I was just focusing on my defense and rebounding," Burnside said. "I had to redeem myself from yesterday and help out my team."
 
The Lancers were even better than their final numbers in the first half, shooting 45.7 from the field (16-for-35) and 58.3 from beyond the arc (7-of-12). PLNU managed just 20.6 (7-of-34) and 10 percent from three (1-for-10).
 
"I was really just proud with the way girls got out there and worked," Olson said. "You could tell right from the start they just wanted to win. The effort defensively in the first half was spectacular, the best effort we've had all year."
 
Mihalko scored the first five points of the second half to up the Lancers' advantage to 33 points, 48-15. A Brittany Sepeda three kept Point Loma from cutting into the 30-plus deficit, as her triple made the score 56-22 with 15:11 remaining.
 
The lead nearly ballooned to 40, 63-24, with Nelson hitting a short-range jump shot with 11:19 left. With both teams pulling its starters, Point Loma pulled within 30 but Emily Schmidt and Elyse Snyder cashed in back-to-back layups to keep the Lancers up by 29 at 73-44.
 
While the win feels good, CBU is far from content. Cal Poly Pomona is the Lancers' final hurdle to advancing to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
 
"It's kind of unreal right now, but we just have to get our focus back because we have another game to go," Mihalko said. "It's not enough for us to win these two games and be in the finals, we just want to keep going as far as we can. We think we can go all the way and that's what we're trying to do."