AZUSA, Calif. —After facing Academy of Art twice before and picking up both victories, No. 5-ranked California Baptist University could have gone into Friday's NCAA Division II West Regional opener thinking it had the game in the bag.
 
While CBU knew not to take the Urban Knights lightly, the Lancers looked like they had ART U's number with a 93-70 victory in the regional noon tipoff to advance in the tournament.
 
"We know ART U is a good team, they're capable of scoring a lot of points and forcing a lot of turnovers," said junior guard Cassidy Mihalko. "We knew we had to come out with a lot of energy, take care of the ball and play together as a team. That's what we did."
 
The Lancers improve to 29-2 overall heading into a big matchup with No. 4-ranked Alaska-Anchorage Saturday night. The Urban Knights end their season with a 24-9 mark with the loss.
 
Megan Frerer had a huge night in the post for CBU, grabbing a double-double with 16 points (8-for-11) and a career-high 17 rebounds. She also posted four blocks and had four assists on the day.
 
"Megan played great today," said Olson. "She dominated inside with both her rebounding and scoring. She has really been on a good run lately and has been a steadying presence on our team all season."
 
Mihalko led all scorers with 28 points on 10-for-16 shooting, just two points shy of her career high. Courtney Nelson added 15 points and Kamille Diaz chipped in another 14. Erin Asher was just on the cusp of double figures, finishing with nine points (4-for-9).
 
With a bunch of Lancers getting in on the scoring, it's no wonder CBU had so many assists. The Lancers finished with 26 in the game, with Diaz dishing out nine of them, three off her career-best of 12 assists.
 
"We really moved the ball well," said Coach Jarrod Olson. "We had 26 assists, which is a huge number. The ball really found the shooter today. It was a different person pretty much every time. I think that makes it really difficult for the other team to guard us. I thought that was really key."
 
Nelson started the game off by knocking down a three and Frerer followed with a layup to make it 5-0 CBU early.
 
ART U tried to keep it close in the first quarter, but with about two minutes left in the period, the Lancers went off on a 6-0 spurt to take their first double-digit lead of the game. Mihalko hit two free throws before Olivia Weber stole the ball away and put Asher in on a fast break to threaten the 10-point lead. Nelson then put her own offensive rebound into the net, giving CBU a 23-13 lead.
 
With a 25-15 cushion after the first 10 minutes of action, CBU came out looking to make a move in the second quarter to further distance itself from the Urban Knights. Mihalko got the period off and running with a jumper from Diaz, but ART U managed to slice CBU's edge down to single digits.
 
The Urban Knights continued to battle to keep the score within reach, but the Lancers still went into halftime with a 10-point upper hand, 43-33.
 
Coming out of the break, however, CBU got what it was looking for. The Lancers opened the half on a 9-2 run to threaten putting the margin into 20-point range early into the third quarter. Frerer sparked the run by posting up under the basket and Diaz sank a three to put her team in front 52-35.
 
"We came out with really good energy after halftime," said Olson. "We had little spurts throughout the first half. We came out with a real sense of urgency to start the third quarter and started to put the game away."
 
After ART U cut the margin down to 16 points, the Lancers scored six-straight points to jump in front by 22. Frerer started the run and saw Mihalko and Emma Meriggioli each hit two free throws to fuel the spurt.
 
Keeping the momentum going, Frerer grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in off the backboard to start another back-to-back possession for the Lancers. Nelson closed out the quarter with two chances at the charity stripe to give CBU a 76-51 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.
 
The run continued over to the fourth as Frerer blocked a shot on defense and turned around on offense to put in a shot off an assist from Diaz, 78-51.
 
Once again, ART U tried to hang with the Lancers, but CBU wasn't about to let that happen. Back-to-back three-pointers from Diaz — who hit a record nine last time she faced the Urban Knights — extended the margin to 31 points, 84-53.
 
The Urban Knights were a little too late on their comeback attempt, cutting the Lancers' lead to 89-70, but CBU closed the game out with back-to-back layups to secure the 93-70 victory.
 
"We're really excited to be here," said Mihalko. "We wanted to bounce back from our loss at the conference tournament championship. I think this game was a good ice breaker for us to get good momentum going. I'm really proud of everybody."
 
CBU is going to need that momentum as it faces its highest-ranked opponent since last year. UAA, which lost in the first round last year, beat Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday to take on the Lancers at 5:00 p.m. Saturday in Azusa, Calif. The winner gets a chance at the West Regional title, with CBU looking to defend its crown on Monday at 7:30 p.m.