California Baptist University
UC Riverside
WBB Preview: Season Kicks off with the Crosstown Showdown on Monday
11/1/2025 11:33:00 AM | Women's Basketball
RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist University women's basketball team opens up its season on Monday, November for a long-awaited renewal of the Crosstown Showdown versus UC Riverside.
Basketball season has arrived in Riverside as the women's game will be part one of a double-header with the men's team facing USC Upstate at 7:30 right after. The women finished last season 12-19 and 9-7 in conference play during an injury-riddled campaign. CBU was picked second in the conference preseason poll heading into the season, receiving four of the seven first place votes.
Head Coach Jarrod Olson will be at the helm for his 14th season in Riverside and will seek to earn the program's third Western Athletic Conference title in the team's final season in the conference. The Lancers have retooled with a healthy dose of new faces while bringing back a solid group of returners with championship experience. Filipa Barros, Grace Schmidt, and Khloe Lemon were all contributing members of the 2023 Championship team that went to March Madness and will return to lead Coach Olson's squad in 2025. All three dealt with injuries in 2024, missing a combined 48 games. CBU will also tout solid returners such as Emma Johansson, Shawnee Nordstrom, and reigning WAC Freshman of the Year CeCe Legaspi.
The Lancers will also have several new faces in the rotation, including graduate transfer Chance Bucher, who spent time at Portland and Eckerd College before making her way to Riverside. CBU will also have a pair of Sacramento State transfers in Sofia Alonso and Paula Haw, who figure to play integral roles this season.
The season will tip off against its crosstown and future conference rival, UCR, which is coming off a 17-15 season in which it finished tied for fifth in the Big West and advanced to the second round of the Big West Tournament, where it would fall to UC Davis. The Highlanders, under third-year coach Brad Langston, will bring in a lot of new faces, including inter-conference transfers Aaliyah Stanton from Cal State Fullerton and Bria Shine from UC Davis. Stanton led CSUF in scoring last season and was an All-Big West honorable mention as she averaged 14.3 points per game. UCR will also be returning two of its three leading scorers from a season ago in senior Shelley Duchemin (10.5 ppg) and sophomore Seneca Hackley (9 ppg).
This meeting between the two Riverside-based universities will be the first since 2021 and will be the fifth of the DI era. Last time they faced each other, it was a CBU victory at UC Riverside. In the DI era, the Lancers hold a 3-1 series edge as the two teams look to renew their rivalry ahead of CBU's move to the Big West in 2025-26.
"It's a great way to start the season," said Coach Olson about the opening night matchup against UCR. "We are going to make each other better, and it's going to be a lot of fun for the fans. Sports are supposed to be fun, so the more moments like this you can get, where this is an edge to the game, we need to take advantage of that and lean into it."
MATCHUP INFO:
WHEN- Monday, November 3 @5PM
WHERE- Riverside, CA- Fowler Events Center
WATCH- ESPN+
TICKETS- Get your tickets HERE
