Chapman University and St. Olaf College (MN) registered season-opening wins at the 2011 Redlands Tip-Off Women's Basketball Classic in Currier Gym on Friday night. The Chapman Panthers overcame an 11-point deficit to rally back for the 79-73 win over Trinity University (TX), while St. Olaf staved off a persistent Bulldog squad in the waning seconds en route to a 54-53 decision.
During the opening game, the teams battled back and forth until the Tigers surged ahead by eight points with 3:56 to go in the first half. From here, Trinity became plagued by turnovers, which led to a two-point advantage at the break.
Once again the Tigers erupted with a sizeable run to gain an 11-point lead less than three minutes into the final frame. Trinity maintained control of the score through the 10-minute mark, sitting pretty with a 63-54 advantage.
However, the Panthers clawed and fought their way back into the game by converting six of their 12 second-half free-throws in the final minutes. In addition, Kimi Takaoka knocked down two of her three baskets from beyond the arc, cutting her team's deficit to one with 3:34 to go.
From here, Chapman finished the game on a 7-2 run as the Trinity offense went cold in the final minutes of competition.
Brandi Hood led the Panthers with 19 points and 18 rebounds, including 11 offensive boards. Takaoka supplied 18 points and Liz Hartnett chipped in 12.
Trinity gained 19 points from Murphy Burns, while Anne Waidelich contributed 13 as the only other double-digit scorer.
Overall, the teams both put together similar field-goal percentages, with Trinity edging the Panthers from long range. Chapman benefitted from more than twice as many free-throw attempts, but only actually converted five more than the Tigers.
In tonight's second showdown, St. Olaf jumped out to an eight-point lead and never relinquished control to the Bulldogs.
Although Redlands made it interesting by tying it up at 34 with 12:27 left in the game, the Oles surged out to an 11-point lead less than five minutes later.
Down by 11 with 5:05 remaining, the Maroon and Gray mustered a late comeback with junior guard Ashley Sevilla (San Diego, CA) draining a pair of three-pointers to lead the charge. In addition, Redlands converted four of its final free-throw opportunities to eventually cut the deficit to just three with 40 seconds left on the clock.
After the Bulldogs fouled and the Oles missed at the charity stripe, Redlands appeared to have new life when senior forward Courtney Carroll(Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) pulled in a huge rebound. Senior guard Mariah Barbetti-Cort (Ventura, CA) drove the basket on the ensuing possession to make it a one-point game with 32 seconds to go.
Redlands was forced to foul on two more occasions with St. Olaf failing to put the game away at the charity stripe.
However, the Bulldogs never scored another bucket, leading to the Oles' hard-fought one-point victory.
Carroll scored a team-high 14 points for the Maroon and Gray. Barbetti-Cort pulled in 11 rebounds to lead all players.
St. Olaf looked to Erin Haglund for a team-high 16 points and eight rebounds, while Nikki Frogner came off the bench for 10 points.
The Redlands Tip-Off Classic continues on Saturday with St. Olaf facing Chapman at 5 p.m., followed by an in-region battle between Trinity and Redlands at approximately 7 p.m. in Currier Gym.