BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Impressive performances all over the court stretched California Baptist University's winning streak to three games in a dominant 68-45 win over CSU Bakersfield in the Icardo Center on Thursday night.
It gave the Lancers' their first road win in the Western Athletic Conference and most impressive league win to date, as it took down a Roadrunner team that came into the night tied for third in the WAC standings.
"We had a really good week of practice and did a good job getting prepared all week," Coach
Jarrod Olson said. "Our scout team gave us good looks all week. It was nice to see everyone put everything we've been working on into the game."
CBU improves to 9-9, 2-3 in the conference and drops CSUB to 8-12, 4-3. Bakersfield was picked to finish second in the WAC in both of the conference's preseason coaches and media polls after they advanced to the finals of the 2018 WAC Tournament.
The Lancers next travel to Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon Saturday at 2 p.m.
Delacy Brown scored a game-high 20 points, pulled down seven rebounds and logged four assists.
Britney Thomas collected her 12
th double-double of the year, with 12 points and 13 assists.
Caitlyn Harper added 11 points and nine rebounds for CBU, which also got nine points and seven boards from
Lexy Ram.
Defense and big advantages in three-point shooting and rebounding were key to CBU's victory. The Lancers posted a 52-43 advantage on the glass and shot 40 percent from three (12-for-30) and 43.8 percent (28-64) from the field. The Roadrunners were held to 11.1 percent from three (2-18) and to 25 percent from the field (19-76).
"I thought we guarded really well, we did a nice job getting in their gaps and making them shoot tough shots," Olson said. "Besides some offensive rebounds, we did a nice job keeping them out of the paint."
A big first half from Brown helped CBU hold a double-digit lead over CSU Bakersfield at halftime. The junior had 13 points to go with six rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes of floor time over the first two quarters.
CBU shooting 41.2 percent (7-of-17) and holding the Roadrunners to 8.3 percent (1-12) from three, along with a 29-23 advantage in rebounds, were crucial to them taking a big lead (35-23) at halftime.
The Lancers used a 10-0 run that included three-pointers from Ram and Brown and layups from Harper and
Georgia Dale to lead CSUB 14-8 with 1:47 left in the first quarter. The Roadrunners managed to cut their deficit down to one, 16-15, at the end of the opening frame, though.
Momentum continued to build for the Lancers in quarter two, as they outscored CSUB 19-8 over those 10 minutes. A trio of three-pointers – one each from Brown, Harper and
Emma Meriggioli – sparked an 11-0 run for CBU, which was finished off by a coast-to-coast layup from Brown.
The Roadrunners cut their deficit down to 39-31 four minutes into the third quarter, but CBU extended its lead back out to 14, 52-38, going into the fourth quarter with a 10-5 charge. Olaeta, Ram, Harper and Dale all contributed to the quarter-ending run.
Bakersfield scored first in the fourth quarter, but the Lancers scored the next nine points, with six of them coming from Thomas, to take a 61-40 lead with five minutes to go.
"We have been talking about being resilient and working through adversity," Olson said. "Tonight we did a great job of that, we were able to make big plays to respond to their big plays."
