California Baptist University
17-12,13-5WAC
UTRGV
12-17,6-12WAC
Senior Night Ends Regular Season With An Overtime Win
3/2/2023 9:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball
RIVERSIDE – Five seniors went out on top on Thursday night, and CBU rallied to defeat The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in overtime in the regular season finale. The 81-76 final score came as the Lancers claimed their second overtime victory of the season, improving the CBU season record to 17-12 overall and 13-5 in Western Athletic Conference play.
Brittany Klaman, Dorcas Wu, Tiena Neale, Sila Finau, and Georgia Kehoe were honored before their final home game as Lancers. The five have helped CBU continue its upward trajectory in the first season of postseason eligibility and will be missed next season.
CBU officially finishes third in the 2023 WAC standings. Southern Utah (20-9, 16-2 WAC) becomes the fifth different school in five years to claim the regular season title. Stephen F. Austin, last season's champion, finishes in second place (25-5, 15-3 WAC), and the Lancers close out ahead of Grand Canyon (20-9, 12-6 WAC). However, in terms of tournament seeding, the Lopes will likely hold onto the third seed, while CBU will still have a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed.
CBU scored first in the game but struggled to find consistent offense in the first half. The Vaqueros would slowly build their lead, first by six at the end of the first quarter, then led by 10 at halftime. The Second half saw UTRGV build an 11-point lead the CBU came within one point. Then the Vaqueros made it back up to 10, against cutting it down to one.
Midway through the fourth, Chloe Webb and Finau combined for an 11-3 run, tying the game with less than a minute to go. Trinity San Antonio gave the Lancers the lead with an incredible Euro-stepping layup with just 4.4 seconds left, but UTRGV called a timeout, advanced the ball, and hit the equalizer at the horn to force a fifth period. You can't guard clutch!#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/gljb19hbq6
The final five minutes were all CBU, though. Webb, Finau, and San Antonio again went on a scoring tirade, putting up eight before UTRGV got on the board. The Lancers cruised to victory after that.
The Lancers' next opponent is still being determined, but the game is not. After a bye from the Monday games and no Tuesday games for the women's bracket, the Lancers will be back in action on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. verse the winner of the #5/#12 game whose participants have yet to officially be set.
