RIVERSIDE – The Lancers welcomed Chicago State Friday afternoon, hosting the Cougars to their first game in over a month. There was little rust initially from the Cougars, but the Lancers depth proved too much to handle for CSU as California Baptist ran away with game one of the series by a score of 93-52.
The Lancers trailed early as the Cougars led by as many as six after the first media timeout, but then
Caitlyn Harper went to work. The redshirt-sophomore forward scored nine of her first-half 13 points in the first quarter, including a solo 6-0 run to pull CBU even with Chicago at 14-all. The Lancers took the lead soon after and never looked back.
The Lancers biggest lead of the game was the final score that was achieved on the back of a 7-0 run to close out the game. CSU attempted just seven three-pointers in the contest but were unable to connect on any of them. It marks the second time this season the Lancers held an opponent without a three, also holding Cal Poly 0-11 on Dec. 19.
Every Lancer who dressed made it onto the scoresheet today while five scored in double-figures, led by Harpers team-high 19. Caitlyn added 14 rebounds, matching her season-high, giving her three double-doubles on the year.
Britney Thomas (14),
Nicole Avila-Ambrosi (13),
Sydney Palma (11), and
Taylor Wu (10) joined Harper in the double-digit club.
Palma filled her stat sheet well, adding five assists and two blocks to her 11 points.
Ane Olaeta focused on distribution, dishing out seven assists.
Georgia Dale saw the most action of her season so far, scoring seven points and showing up in a big way on defense by nabbing three steals and blocking a shot in 26 minutes of work.
THE LITTLE THINGS
CBU does a lot of things very well, but it's the little things that really added up for the Lancers today. CBU forced 20 turnovers, turning those directly into 25 points, while never taking a play off, proof in their 40 fastbreak points. Consider also that the netted 50 points in the paint and nearly half of their scoring came from the bench (49 points), and it all leads back to the Lancers accomplishing the little things and earning a great team win.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Lancers and Cougars will run it back tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm at the CBU Events Center, the game can be seen for free on the WAC Digital Network.
