RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A second-half surge and lights-out shooting propelled California Baptist University to arguably its biggest win of the season over Dixie State on a score of 88-74 on Saturday.

The Lancers shot 50-percent from the floor throughout the game (32-64) and over 38 percent from three (8-21), while knocking down 16 of 17 free throws for a 94.1 clip at the line. Blaysen Varnadoe led the way with 25 points on 9-for-11 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three.

"We were focused on our game goals, we have a few goals we try to hit every night and tonight we accomplished just about all of those goals," Varnadoe said. "Our rebounding and free-throw shooting was really good tonight."

Varnadoe erupted in the second half with 15 points of her 25 points coming on 6-for-6 shooting (3-for-3 from three) over a 10-minute span.

"We shot the ball really well in the second half and Blaysen was just awesome in that second half, everyone just kind of fed off of that," Coach Jarrod Olson said. "Twenty-five points in 22 minutes is an awesome stat line; we know she is capable of doing great things."

Ane Olaeta did a bit of everything with 19 points, five assists and four rebounds for CBU, while Tori Mitchell (14) and Emma Meriggioli added (11) double-digit points, as well. Another key to the Lancers' win was a 48-30 advantage in rebounds, with Emily Schmidt pulling down 11 boards and Lexy Ram adding eight rebounds.  

"We know how Dixie State likes to play, we scouted them and knew their sets and personnel," Olaeta said. "We had a good attitude and played hard."

CBU improves to 5-5 and 2-1 in the PacWest with the win, while Dixie State suffers its first conference loss and drops to 6-4, 2-1. The Lancers turn right back around with a trip to Biola on Monday at 5:30 p.m. and then a trek to Cal State East Bay on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. tip before going into the Christmas break.

"We are trying to win every game going into the break, so we have to keep it up," Varnadoe said.

Saturday was certainly something to build on for the Lancers, as Olson said it's one of their best games so far this season.

"This was probably our best offensive game and it has to be up there defensively, too," Olson said. "You can definitely see signs of improvement with the team, which is really encouraging, that's something we stress – make sure we're better today than we were yesterday."

Six-straight points made a statement for CBU right away in the first quarter, with Mitchell scoring four of those points. Dixie State recovered from the early deficit and took a 19-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Lancers started strong again the second quarter, though, and an 11-4 run powered by six points and an assist from Olaeta gave them a 28-23 advantage. The Trailblazers fought back within one, 32-31, with just under two minutes to go before halftime, but a three-pointer from Varnadoe and layup from Mitchell put CBU up six, 37-31, going into the break.

There was yet another hot start for CBU out of the half, as it ran its lead out to 43-31 after layups from Olaeta, Mitchell and Schmidt. The Lancers kept coming and widened their margin to 17 points, 51-37, after consecutive threes from Varnadoe.

Dixie State stayed in it and sliced its deficit to 62-55 going into the fourth quarter, but CBU put the game away with 13-0 run. It was fueled by four points from Ram and six more from Varnadoe, which boosted the Lancers' lead to 78-57 with 7:36 remaining.  

"We had a great offense tonight, it was a good team game and we were able to spread out and move the ball around a lot," Olaeta said.