Big Games from O'Donell and Hutton Secure One-Goal GCC Win for Lancers at Santa Clara

Saturday, April 10

Santa Clara, Calif.

10:30 AM

California Baptist University

5-9, 3-3

Santa Clara

0-7, 0-6

California Baptist

Santa Clara

Photo by: Danielle Lutjens

Big Games from O'Donell and Hutton Secure One-Goal GCC Win for Lancers at Santa Clara

4/10/2021 1:18:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Director of Athletics Communications

SANTA CLARA – Kira O'Donell and Jamie Hutton went off for eight and seven points, respectively, to lead California Baptist University women's water polo to a 13-12 Golden Coast Conference win on the road at Santa Clara.

O'Donell netted five goals and three assists, while Hutton poured in four goals and three assists in the 18^th-ranked Lancers' victory at the Sullivan Aquatics Center. It is the eighth five-goal game of O'Donell's career and third this season and Hutton's second four-goal game of the year and fifth of her career.

Make it a 🖐 goal game for Kira O'Donell❗ It's the eighth 🖐 goal game of her career.#LanceUp⚔ pic.twitter.com/0EEGDjqwjY
— California Baptist Women's Water Polo (@LancersWWP) April 10, 2021

CBU has now won five of its last six games to improve to 5-9 and 3-3 in the GCC, while the Broncos drop to 0-7 overall and 0-6 in league. The Lancers move into a fourth-place tie with Loyola Marymount in the GCC standings, with one conference game left at 14^th-ranked San Diego State next Saturday, April 17 at noon.

Vicky Martinez scored the game-winning goal with 72 seconds left in regulation and finished with a goal, assist and two drawn ejections for CBU. Kyra Foley added eight saves and Krista Krantz had three assists for the Lancers, who also got two assists, a goal and drawn ejection from Amy Branch.

Jamie Hutton in the clutch 👌#LanceUp⚔ pic.twitter.com/E4eG02Vb9U
— California Baptist Women's Water Polo (@LancersWWP) April 10, 2021

PLAY-BY-PLAY
While it wound up being a one-goal game, CBU put together a trio of 3-0 runs and led by as many as five in the game.

The Broncos scored first but that was the only time they would lead. The Lancers scored the next three goals, with two from O'Donell and another from Amy Branch, to lead 4-2 going into the second quarter.

CBU pushed its lead to four, 6-2, a minute into the second quarter on another 3-0 run sparked by two Hutton goals and another from Maddie Schwegler. The Broncos fought back to cut their deficit to 7-5 at halftime, while O'Donell locked up a first-half hat trick for CBU's seventh goal.

The Lancers opened the second half on a 3-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 10-5, with 11-and-a-half minutes to play. SCU made things interesting and made it a one-goal game, 10-9, with 5:12 to play thanks to a 4-0 run.

Hutton ended a six-plus minute scoring drought for CBU with a goal with 4:17 left in regulation, while O'Donell added another insurance score 1:15 later to give the Lancers a 12-9 lead with 3:02 to play.

Santa Clara would not go away and scored back-to-back goals to pull back within a goal, 12-11, with 1:42 left. Vicky Martinez scored her one goal of the game in a big moment, as it went down as the game-winner with 1:12 to go. The two-goal lead allowed CBU to shrug off SCU's goal with 28 seconds left and run out the clock for the 13-12 victory.

👏👏👏

Vicky Martinez scores with 72 seconds left, and it stands up as the game-winner in CBU's one-goal win!#LanceUp⚔ pic.twitter.com/epGaRpBnaw
— California Baptist Women's Water Polo (@LancersWWP) April 10, 2021

CONFERENCE OUTLOOK
Saturday's win keeps CBU's hopes of a top-four finish and berth to the GCC Championships alive and well. It will all come down to the final week of the regular season.

Pacific (5-0), San Diego State (5-1) and Fresno State (4-1) have all already locked up top-three finishes in the conference and berths to the GCC Championships, which will only take the top-four teams in 2021.

Loyola Marymount and CBU are both tied for fourth place at 3-3 in the conference, while Azusa Pacific is right behind them both at 2-4. The Lions will end the regular season with a game against Pacific, while the Cougars will face Concordia (1-5) in their final GCC game of the year.

A win for CBU and loss for LMU next week would secure fourth place for the Lancers. Even with a CBU loss, there would be a path there if LMU loses and APU defeats Concordia. It would create a three-way tie for fourth between APU, LMU and CBU.

The Lancers would hold the tiebreaker in that scenario, which is based on margin of victory between those three. CBU defeated Azusa Pacific 15-9 and lost to LMU 11-10, which gives them a five-goal margin of victory. APU has a minus one margin of victory after its 12-8 win over LMU and six-goal loss to CBU, while the Lions have a minus three goal margin of victory with their loss to the Cougars and one-goal win over the Lancers.