CLAREMONT, Calif. - Led by Brianna Parker's 17 point-performance, Cal Lutheran was able to outscore the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas by one point in the second half. Unfortunately for the Regals, they trailed host CMS by 16 points at the half and were ultimately defeated Thursday evening by a score of 68-53.

Box Score: @CMS 68, CLU 53 - F

Donielle Griggs finished with 10 points against the Athenas, tying her season high for the third time this season, teammate Starla Wright contributing nine points of her own.

Turning in one of their strongest performances from the free throw line, CLU nearly set a new season high shooting 16-19 (84.2%) from the charity stripe against CMS.

Cal Lutheran was also able to force 19 CMS turnovers in an attempt to aid their comeback efforts in the second half.

Unfortunately for CLU, the deciding point of the game took place during the final five minutes of the first half. Held scoreless during that time-span, CMS was able to take a four point lead and increase it three times over to take a sizable 16 point advantage with them to the locker room at halftime.

Down 32-16, the Regals started the second half on a 9-0 run to decrease the Athena's once intimidating lead to a more manageable seven point margin.

As quickly as CLU sliced the CMS deficit during the first two minutes of the second half, the Athenas built it back to a double-digit margin during the next two minutes to regain their sizable cushion once again.

Undaunted, Cal Lutheran withered the latest Athena run only to slowly create another run of their own to decrease the CMS lead once again to a 45-39 score with 10+ minutes remaining in the game.

But that would be as close as the Regals would get to completely erasing their halftime deficit as CMS was able to mirror CLU's scoring efforts throughout the remainder of the game to earn the win.

The Regals return to action this Saturday evening when they face Redlands in a 5:00 p.m. match-up at Gilbert Arena.