RIVERSIDE -- Georgia Dale scored a career-high 27 points in California Baptist University's first-ever win against New Mexico State, as the Lancers cruised to an 82-70 win over the Aggies. CBU led by as many as 25 in the game after building a double-digit lead early.
New Mexico State is the reigning Western Athletic Conference regular season and tournament champions, dominating the regular season last year with a 15-1 conference record. After winning three WAC Tournament games by an average of 16.7 points, the 14
th-seeded Aggies faced off with three-seed Iowa State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, dropping the opening round contest to the Cyclones.
Dale made six of her 10 shots from beyond the three-point line and 10-of-15 from the field overall. Both were also career-highs and eclipsed her previous bests of four and seven, respectively.
Teammate
Ane Olaeta wasn't far behind Dale, as she scored 21 points and had seven assists. Olaeta was even more efficient than Dale, shooting 8-10 from the floor and 3-4 from beyond the arc.
Lexy Ram and
Delacy Brown also cracked double-figure scoring with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Ram added 10 boards for her seventh double-double of the year.
The Lancers built their initial lead by trading threes for the Aggies' two in the first quarter, and ended the second quarter on an 11-3 run to hold a 43-31 advantage going into halftime.
CBU really stepped on it in the third, outscoring NMSU 30-19 on 11-16 shooting in the quarter. The Lancers had their second-best shooting game of the season, closing the night with a 52.5 percent (31-59) clip from the field.
The win gets the Lancers to 15-15 overall and 6-9 in the WAC, with just one more game to go. Saturday afternoon's matchup against The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will also include pregame Senior Day festivities to honor CBU's three graduating seniors:
Tiena Afu,
Delacy Brown and
Lexy Ram. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. at the CBU Events Center.
