After opening the game on a 16-2 run, the University of Redlands women's basketball team maintained control through the final whistle en route to a 53-46 victory over the visiting Eagles of Edgewood College (WI) in Thursday's second game of the 2011 Redlands Winter Classic. 

Following their hot start, the Bulldogs held a double-digit lead until the 11:25-mark of the first half when Edgewood's Dareon Henderson knocked down a free-throw.

However, senior guard Mariah Barbetti-Cort (Ventura, CA) answered with a timely lay-up for the Bulldogs.

After controlling the scoreboard for much of the period, Redlands headed into halftime with an eight-point advantage.

During the second stanza, Edgewood rallied back to within one point when Mariah Hill drained a three-pointer, leading to the 28-27 score.

Redlands fired off a 10-2 run to gain its largest lead of the second period at 38-29 with 12:13 left on the clock.

But the Eagles continued to battle, closing the gap to two points at 2:23 and again at 1:35 to go. 

The Bulldogs responded once again with back-to-back layups by Barbetti-Cort and senior forward Courtney Carroll (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) to make it a six-point game.  In addition, Carroll converted two critical shots from the charity stripe with 27 seconds left.

Providing double-doubles for the Bulldogs, Carroll and Barbetti-Cort teamed up as the game's top scorers, contributing 17 and 14 points, respectively.  Barbetti-Cort led all players with 15 rebounds, while Carroll nabbed 10.

Edgewood (3-6) gained 13 points from Hill and 11 points from Watkins.

Redlands (5-4) faces the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in Friday's 5 p.m. showdown, while Edgewood takes on UC Santa Cruz at 3 p.m.

In the Redlands Winter Classic's opening match, the Pioneers of UW-Platteville edged out the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs in a 54-47 decision.

With 6:27 remaining in the opening frame, Santa Cruz broke a 13-all tie with a 10-4 run to own a six-point advantage at halftime.

But with the help of junior guard Liz Lawinger's hot shooting, the Pioneers staged a solid second-half comeback by outscoring the Banana Slugs, 37-24.

Lawinger finished the contest with 23 points, including five shots from beyond the arch.  In addition, junior forward Ashley Henry played a major role in Platteville's victory by nearly tallying a double-double with 10 rebounds and eight points.

For the Banana Slugs, freshman forward Sarah Mackey provided shutdown defense by swatting six shots and notching eight rebounds.  She also scored a team-high 12 points. Senior guard Danielle Mofsowitz posted a double-digit scoring effort with 10 points, highlighted by a trio of three-pointers.