The University of Redlands women's basketball team struggled to find its rhythm on Thursday evening, resulting in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) loss to Chapman University, 58-71. The defeat drops the Bulldogs into a tie for fourth place in the conference standings, just under halfway through the SCIAC campaign.
The Maroon and Gray enjoyed a quick start and jumped out to an early 7-2 lead after senior guard Allison Wong (Redding, CA) drained a three-point shot at the 17:48 mark of the first half.
A few minutes later, the Panthers made a run of their own and took a 10-9 advantage. But Bulldog senior guard Ashley Sevilla (San Diego, CA) and Wong nailed back-to-back shots from downtown to help the U of R regain control.
Over the next several minutes, Redlands struggled to find the hoop, resulting in Chapman owning a six-point lead with 6:31 left in the half.
U of R junior guard Marika Staton (El Centro, CA) responded for the Bulldogs, nailing a shot from beyond the arc to pull Redlands back to within three.
After Chapman sank a jumper, Wong hit her third three-pointer of the first stanza to make it a two-point game at 27-29. But the Panthers quickly answered by closing out the final few minutes on a 12-5 run, taking a 41-32 lead into the halftime break.
During those first 20 minutes, Redlands shot just 41.7% from the field, while Chapman sank an impressive 64.5% of its shots. In addition, the Bulldogs made five threes as compared to none for the Panthers, and Redlands went 7-for-12 from the line as compared to just one made free-throw for the opponents. However, that disparity in free throws completely reversed itself in the second stanza, as the Maroon and Gray would not get to the free throw line again in the contest.
The second half began with an 8-2 run by the Panthers, and by the 17:57 mark, the Bulldogs trailed by 15 points at 34-49.
Redlands responded with a 7-1 spurt of its own during the next two minutes, cutting the deficit to nine after sophomore guard Claire Stach(Portland, OR) sank a jumper.
Not able to sustain the momentum, the Bulldogs fell behind further, and with 12:01 remaining, trailed by 17 points.
With just over six minutes remaining in regulation, Sevilla hit a shot from beyond the arc and then nailed a jumper, bringing Redlands back to within striking distance at 54-63. For the game, Sevilla finished with a productive 4-for-7 effort from the field, including two from distance for a total of 10 points to go along with four rebounds and one assist.
The Bulldogs continued on the comeback trail, cutting the Panther lead to just seven points with 1:09 left in regulation, but Chapman sealed the contest with a multitude of made free-throws down the stretch.
Despite outshooting the Panthers during the second half by a small margin, Redlands was just 2-of-10 from long range and did not gain any opportunities at the free-throw line. On the flip side, Chapman was 14-of-18 from the charity stripe, ultimately proving to be the difference in the 13-point loss for the Maroon and Gray.
Wong tallied a team-high 14 points for Redlands, while Stach provided an efficient 5-for-11 effort from the field for 12 points. Additionally, Staton chipped in 10 points and junior forward Madison Sanders-Curry (San Jose, CA) came off the bench to grab a game-high nine boards.
The Bulldogs (10-5, 4-3 SCIAC) take a break from conference competition over the weekend when they match up against UC Santa Cruz in a regional tilt. Tip-off on Saturday evening is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Currier Gym.