THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - What began with a pre-game ceremony to honor departing senior Donielle Griggs ended with a resounding 89-46 Cal Lutheran victory over the Whittier Poets Tuesday evening.

Box Score: CLU 89, WC 46 - F

Needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Regals jumped out to an early 13-2 lead, creating an advantage that Whittier would not come close to erasing at any point of the game.

Leading from start to finish, Cal Lutheran ended the first half on a 12-3 run and entered the locker room at halftime with a sizable 47-18 lead.

Once they returned to the floor in the second half, the Regals continued where they left off, pushing the pace of the game until the final buzzer as they both outrebounded the Poets by 15 and nearly shot 50% from the field for the entire game.

Playing in her final game as a Regal, Griggs finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and finished with more than twice as many steals herself than then entire Whittier team (5-2).

Channing Fleischmann also finished with 17 points, Chelsey Hastigan finished one point behind the pair with her 16-point effort.

As impressive as Cal Lutheran was on offense, they raised just as many eyebrows with their defense as well throughout the entire game. Forcing a total of 19 Poet turnovers, Whittier only shot 25% from the field in the first half as the CLU defense truly forced Whittier to earn every point throughout the evening.

Compounding Whittier's problems was the efficiency of Cal Lutheran shooting from both sides of the three-point arc.

Shooting 14-29 from the field (48.3%), Cal Lutheran was just as dangerous from three-point distance as the Regals finished 5-12 (41.7%) from long range.

With the win, Cal Lutheran finished 2011 with a 14-11 overall and 8-6 conference record, narrowly missing postseason action when La Verne clinched the final playoff spot with their one point overtime victory over Redlands earlier this evening.