California Baptist University
1-0,0-0WAC
UC Riverside
0-1,0-0Big West
CBU Beats UCR on Opening Night in Thriller
11/3/2025 8:53:00 PM | Women's Basketball
RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist women's basketball team kicked off hoops season with a come-from-behind thriller over its Crosstown rival, the UCR Highlanders, on Monday night at the Fowler Events Center.
The Lancers got heroic performances from Filipa Barros, Chance Bucher, and Emma Johansson to lift them to a 1-0 start to the 2025-26 campaign. This was the third consecutive home victory over the Highlanders in the matchup history and gives them a 4-1 record over their crosstown rivals in the DI era.
Neither offense found a rhythm in the early going, with both Riverside schools struggling to find their footing. UCR led by as many as seven in the opening half, but the Lancers would get a much-needed triple by Bucher in the waning seconds to close the deficit to just four at the half. UCR would come out of the locker room with some fire in its belly and would take its largest lead of the game, 35-27. That would be short-lived as the Lancers would get back-to-back triples from Bucher to fire the crowd up and force the Highlanders into an early timeout. Moments later, the Lancers would take their first lead of the ballgame off a corner triple from CeCe Legaspi to make it 36-35. UCR would not fold and would take a 39-39 deadlock heading into the fourth quarter.
UCR would continue to put pressure on the CBU defense and would wind up tying the game at 52 apiece with 1:23 to play. Barros would come up with the biggest shot of the game, which was a floating jumpshot over multiple defenders with under 40 seconds to play to give CBU the lead back 54-52. The shot would end up as the go-ahead field goal as the Lancer defense would clamp down twice on the Highlanders and force three missed shots in the final seconds to secure a 56-53 victory.
"It was a solid first win," remarked Head Coach Jarrod Olson. "UCR is a good team, and the in-city rivalry produced great intensity from the crowd. It was a good first step, and I am hoping we can continue to build on this moving forward."
The trio of Barros, Johansson, and Bucher were the stories of the night as they all posted incredible lines in the box score. Barros, in her first game since November 9, 2024, was everywhere on offense and defense. The redshirt junior guard would score 13 points and grab a career-high 18 rebounds. Barros would also flex her defensive muscle with a career-best six steals, which is one off the DI single-game record for the Lancers. Barros's 18 rebounds were only outshined by her teammate Johansson, who would haul in a career-high 20 rebounds, which ties her for the most in a single game in the DI era for the Lancers. Johansson was a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the defense, as she also rejected seven shots, a career best mark.
"Filipa was a big difference maker tonight with both her steals and rebounding. She steadied us on offense, and of course, hit the biggest shot of the game," said Coach Olson. "Emma's number one job is to protect the paint, and she did a fantastic job tonight. It felt like she was contesting or blocking everything in the paint and grabbed every rebound."
Chance Bucher introduced herself to Lancer Nation in a big way, also scoring a game-high 22 points on four made threes. Bucher connected on seven total shots in the game and would keep CBU's offense hanging around despite early game shooting woes. Overall, the Lancers made their statement tonight on the glass with 60 rebounds, which is the most against a DI opponent in program history and the fifth time they have broken the 60-rebound barrier in the DI era.
NEXT: CBU will hit the road for an early road test against Pacific on Saturday, November 8, for a 1 PM tip-off.
