Friday, March 6
Irvine, CA
11:30 AM
California Baptist University
24-5
73
vs
71
Point Loma
19-11
1
2
F
Point Loma
41
30
71
California Baptist
31
42
73
Photo by: Sammi Wellman
You Go Mihalko
3/6/2015 2:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball
IRVINE, Calif. — Heading into halftime down by 10 points Friday, California Baptist University knew it had work to do if it wanted to guarantee a season extension. The Lancers dug deep and grabbed a 73-71 victory over Point Loma to advance to their second-straight conference tournament final game.
"I was really proud of the way they played," said head coach Jarrod Olson. "Point Loma was a tough team to beat. We played them for the third time and were pretty even matched with them. We were fortunate to get out with the win today."
The Lancers improve to 23-5 overall while the Sea Lions fall to 19-10. Point Loma will have to wait until the NCAA Division II selection show on Sunday to find out if its season has come to an end or not.
Cassidy Mihalko not only scored a career-high 29 points (7-for-12) — just two points shy of the tournament record — she also set a new record with the most three-pointers scored in a PacWest tournament game by sinking seven of her 11 attempts.
"I was out there having fun," said Mihalko. "I felt like I couldn't miss for a little bit and it gave me confidence. I was really trying to focus on defense and that's when offense came for me where I was hitting shots."
Darsha Burnside also had a monster game, just one block shy of a triple-double. Still, the junior picked up her 20th double-double of the year with 20 points (10-for-15) and 13 rebounds.
While she didn't score in double figures, Kamille Diaz dished out a team-high 11 assists in the game.
Shots weren't falling for CBU in the first half as the Lancers opened with an uncharacteristic 16.7 shooting percentage from the perimeter and 36.1 shooting percentage from the field. On the other hand, shots didn't seem to stop falling for Point Loma as the Sea Lions walked into halftime with a 41-31 lead on 40.5 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from distance.
Coming out of the break, the Lancers looked like a new team and opened on a 17-2 run to jump out in front 48-43. Mihalko sparked the run, knocking down three triples in the scoring spree.
The Sea Lions took back their lead briefly at 60-59 with 8:58 left to play, making it a tight game the rest of the way.
Diaz sank a shot from beyond the arc to put her team in front by four heading down the stretch, 69-65, but the Lancers weren't out of the woods yet. Point Loma evened the score at 69-69 and again at 71-71 with just 36 seconds left to play.
Olson called a timeout to talk things over with his team, but Point Loma came out of the regrouping with a crucial block. The ball went out of bounds, however, with CBU in possession to give it another chance at the basket. As a Sea Lion went for a steal, Burnside was left wide open at the post for an easy layup to give the Lancers the 73-71 lead.
Point Loma had 11 seconds left for one last try, but Burnside secured the CBU victory with her ninth block of the game.
"We were trying to keep our heads and focus," said Mihalko of the last 11 seconds. "We didn't want them to have any chance at a three. I knew when [Point Loma's guard] put her head down to drive to the basket Darsha was going to be there to help us out. I had complete confidence in her. It's great to have her under the basket for us."
The Lancers will look to win their first PacWest Tournament Championship on Saturday, facing No. 1 seed Hawaii Pacific at 2:00 p.m. The winner gets an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament.
"We're just going to do our best to have the best outcome we can have," said Olson. "We know HPU is a good team. We're just happy to have another game."
"We didn't come this far to lose," added Burnside.
"I was really proud of the way they played," said head coach Jarrod Olson. "Point Loma was a tough team to beat. We played them for the third time and were pretty even matched with them. We were fortunate to get out with the win today."
The Lancers improve to 23-5 overall while the Sea Lions fall to 19-10. Point Loma will have to wait until the NCAA Division II selection show on Sunday to find out if its season has come to an end or not.
Cassidy Mihalko not only scored a career-high 29 points (7-for-12) — just two points shy of the tournament record — she also set a new record with the most three-pointers scored in a PacWest tournament game by sinking seven of her 11 attempts.
"I was out there having fun," said Mihalko. "I felt like I couldn't miss for a little bit and it gave me confidence. I was really trying to focus on defense and that's when offense came for me where I was hitting shots."
Darsha Burnside also had a monster game, just one block shy of a triple-double. Still, the junior picked up her 20th double-double of the year with 20 points (10-for-15) and 13 rebounds.
While she didn't score in double figures, Kamille Diaz dished out a team-high 11 assists in the game.
Shots weren't falling for CBU in the first half as the Lancers opened with an uncharacteristic 16.7 shooting percentage from the perimeter and 36.1 shooting percentage from the field. On the other hand, shots didn't seem to stop falling for Point Loma as the Sea Lions walked into halftime with a 41-31 lead on 40.5 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from distance.
Coming out of the break, the Lancers looked like a new team and opened on a 17-2 run to jump out in front 48-43. Mihalko sparked the run, knocking down three triples in the scoring spree.
The Sea Lions took back their lead briefly at 60-59 with 8:58 left to play, making it a tight game the rest of the way.
Diaz sank a shot from beyond the arc to put her team in front by four heading down the stretch, 69-65, but the Lancers weren't out of the woods yet. Point Loma evened the score at 69-69 and again at 71-71 with just 36 seconds left to play.
Olson called a timeout to talk things over with his team, but Point Loma came out of the regrouping with a crucial block. The ball went out of bounds, however, with CBU in possession to give it another chance at the basket. As a Sea Lion went for a steal, Burnside was left wide open at the post for an easy layup to give the Lancers the 73-71 lead.
Point Loma had 11 seconds left for one last try, but Burnside secured the CBU victory with her ninth block of the game.
"We were trying to keep our heads and focus," said Mihalko of the last 11 seconds. "We didn't want them to have any chance at a three. I knew when [Point Loma's guard] put her head down to drive to the basket Darsha was going to be there to help us out. I had complete confidence in her. It's great to have her under the basket for us."
The Lancers will look to win their first PacWest Tournament Championship on Saturday, facing No. 1 seed Hawaii Pacific at 2:00 p.m. The winner gets an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament.
"We're just going to do our best to have the best outcome we can have," said Olson. "We know HPU is a good team. We're just happy to have another game."
"We didn't come this far to lose," added Burnside.
Team Stats
PLNU-WBB
CBU-WBB
FG%
.324
.403
3FG%
.412
.346
FT%
.900
.714
RB
43
49
TO
9
15
STL
11
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
29
FGM
7
3FGM
7
FTM
8
Pts
20
FGM
10
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F/C
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
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