RIVERSIDE - California Baptist women's basketball has been battling injuries all season long, and today was no different, dressing out just seven healthy players against a Tarleton squad that came into the contest winners of six of their last seven. In front of a near-record crowd of 4,362 on women's basketball's annual Education Day, the Lancers led by as many as 13 in the final frame but needed to hold on in the final seconds to secure the 73-72 win and stay undefeated in Western Athletic Conference play.
Four Lancers tallied double-digit point totals, led by Emma Johansson, who posted a game-and-season-high 18 points. The Swedish center also denied a season-high six Texan shots in 38 minutes of work. Johansson no doubt extended her conference-leading block average, now denying 2.0 shots per game on the year and 3.67 in WAC play.
Nhug Bosch Duran and
Khloe Lemon added 15 points apiece, combining to shoot 10-20 from the field and 9-11 from the free throw line. Freshman
CeCe Legaspi matched her young career-high with 12 points in her first career start. She had a solid all-around game, adding a career-high eight rebounds along with two blocks and a steal.
Claudia Fiel fell just short of her first career double-double, scoring nine points and dishing out a career-high nine assists.
The Lancers shot the lights out, going 29-56 from the field (51.8%), shooting CBU needed to overcome a tough time on the boards, as Tarleton grabbed 20 offensive rebounds on Thursday. Thankfully, the Lancer defense was feeling stout and allowed just 11 points off of those extra opportunities.
CBU started the game hot, hitting 11 of their first 14 shots and building a 12-point lead by the end of the first quarter. CBU's defense was on display early, holding the Texans to single-digit points until there were just 41 seconds to go in the frame and racking up four blocks and two steals in the first ten minutes. The following quarter leaned heavily in Tarleton's favor as the visitors outscored CBU 26-15, but the Lancers held a one-point lead going into halftime.
The two teams almost copied and pasted the first half after the break, with CBU dominating the third period, running their lead up to 12 by the end of it by shooting 50% and allowing Tarleton just four makes on 24 attempts. CBU's lead peaked at 13 with seven minutes to go in the fourth, and with no Lancer in any real foul trouble, things were very positive for the home team. The Texans shifted the momentum quickly, though, going on a 15-4 run over the next six minutes to bring the game within reach.
Lemon put CBU back up by four with a head-fake and drive with 38 seconds left in the game. The Texans would earn two free throws after converting one, steal a CBU inbounds pass with 13 seconds left, hit a running jumper with 2.1 left on the clock, and call a timeout to set up their defense in hopes of pulling off the miracle. CBU would successfully inbound the ball this time, and Lemon would dribble out the clock before Tarleton could foul again.
The Lancers wrap up their three-game homestand on Saturday afternoon as Abilene Christian comes to Riverside. The weekend matinee will tip off at 1:00 p.m. in the Fowler Events Center.
