SAN DIEGO – California Baptist University women's basketball held on late against a surging San Diego State squad to remain unbeaten, defeating the Aztecs 75-71 in San Diego. This marks the second consecutive season where the Lancers have opened the season 3-0, with the streak reaching seven games a year ago.
Despite CBU leading by as much as 11 during the game, the contest was tightly contested for the most part. SDSU mounted a furious comeback in the fourth quarter and pulled within one point on a deep three-pointer from reigning Mountain West Conference Player of the Week Sophia Ramos. Olaeta and the Lancers managed to stay in control, however, and complete the effort for the win.
Much like last week's games, it was
Britney Thomas and Olaeta leading the charge for CBU. Thomas recorded her best stat line of the year, playing a near perfect game with 26 points on 12-14 shooting while grabbing 12 rebounds.
"The number one thing that was going through my head was that my team needed me," said Thomas. "The game is on the line and the other team is catching up. There is no time for errors."
Olaeta took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 of her 25 points in the final frame and draining five late free throws to seal the win.
"I was thinking of making the right play but always trying to be aggressive," said Olaeta after the game. "The shots I took in the last quarter naturally happened as I tried not to force anything if it wasn't there. I know my teammates are more than capable making plays as well".
"That was a pretty good win for us. Britney carried us early and Ane came through big at the end," Head Coach Jarrod Olson said after the win. "We still have plenty to work on, but we showed good resilience today and it was a good win."
PAINT BY NUMBERS
California Baptist did most of their damage down low, scoring 50 of its 75 points in the paint, more than any single-game total from a season ago.
DEFENSE TRAVELS
The Lancer defense that had been so stout last week bent but didn't break when facing Ramos, the same guard who scored 30 on the Lancers in last year's meeting. CBU held the junior guard to just two points on 0-6 shooting in the first half and held the Aztecs as a whole to a season-low 40.3 percent from the field.
"I thought our defense was solid and kept us in the game when we had big scoring droughts," said Olson. "
Sydney Palma had some really nice passes and made a key steal at the end."
CROSSTOWN SHOWDOWN
Up next for the Lancers is a matchup against crosstown UC Riverside. Now that both schools compete at the Division I level these games have produced some of the most exciting contests of the season. This game will act as the season opener for the Highlanders, while the Lancers enter on a six-game winning streak dating back to last season.
