SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A hot start and complete effort propelled California Baptist University to its most dominant win over an NCAA Division I opponent on Wednesday night.
Balanced offense and stout defense helped the Lancers get out quick and never look back in a 76-64 victory over the Gauchos. It stretches CBU's winning streak to five games, as the Lancers improve to .500 (6-6) headed into Western Athletic Conference play. The Gauchos fall to 2-9.
Five Lancers scored at least nine points in the win, while CBU shot 44.8 percent from three (13-for-29) and held UC Santa Barbara to 32.2 percent from the field (19-59).
Delacy Brown finished with a game-high 21 points in, while
Caitlyn Harper netted a career-high 14 points in 14 minutes.Â
Britney Thomas notched her eighth double-double in 12 games this season, with 11 points and 12 rebounds in 21 minutes. She also had five blocks (four in the third quarter), two assists and two steals in the game, with those five blocks tying for the ninth most in a single game in CBU's NCAA era.Â
Lexy Ram and
Georgia Dale added 10 and nine points, respectively, for CBU.
The Lancers will take advantage of the Christmas break before starting Western Athletic Conference play next. CBU has consecutive road games at NM State and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 3 and 5, respectively, before its first-ever WAC game at home versus Kansas City at 6 p.m. on Jan. 10.Â
Brown enjoyed one of the best shooting quarters in team history on Wednesday, as she started out shooting 4-of-4 from three. The junior helped CBU shoot 58.3 percent (7-12) from three in the first quarter and hold a 27-15 lead going into the second.
The Lancers opened the first 5:20 of the game on a 19-4 run, in large part due to its 83 percent shooting (5-of-6) from three. Brown scored nine of those points, all on three-pointers, while
Ane Olaeta and Ram had threes of their own in the first few minutes.
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UC Santa Barbara could not pull any closer than 10 points in the first half. Harper scored CBU's final six points of the first half on a pair of three-point plays to hand the Lancers a 41-27 advantage at halftime. Brown matched her season-high 17 points in a game 16 minutes into the action.
The lead was thanks not only to CBU's 42.1 percent shooting (8-of-19) from three but to taking care of the ball. The Lancers had just one turnover and 10 assists in the first half, while forcing six turnovers from the Gauchos.
CBU won the third quarter on a score of 16-10, to go into the fourth quarter up 20, 57-37. Ram scored eight of her points over those 10 minutes of the third.
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The Lancers did not let up much in the fourth quarter, and were led by Dale over the final 10 minutes, as she scored seven in the fourth.
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