written by Jalen Kang

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Sara Mills scored a season-high 20 points and Alline Ballard grabbed a career-high 21 rebounds, leading Cal Lutheran women's basketball to a 63-60 win over Whitworth on Wednesday afternoon. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Aliya DiMuro scored the game's first points off a nice feed into the paint from Ballard. Ballard's monster game on the glass started early, as she secured 10 rebounds in the first two quarters. The Regals (4-3) and the Pirates (3-6) played even through one quarter of action, with both teams scoring 11 points. 

Mills hit a three and a layup for the first two Regals buckets of the second quarter to put them in front 16-14. The Pirates found their groove from three to take back control of the game, shooting 5-9 in the quarter from beyond the arc. After an 11-3 run put the Pirates up 31-25, Sydney Heyn drilled a corner three to make it a three-point deficit for the Regals going into halftime. 

After the break, the Pirates picked up right where they left off from downtown. They nailed a pair of threes during a 10-3 run to grab their largest lead of the game, 41-31. Mills took it into her own hands to get the Regals back into the game; she nailed back-to-back threes to cut the deficit to 4 points in less than a minute of game time. With 3:05 left in the third quarter, Natalie Villamor hit a three, Karina McMillan made a layup, and Ballard knocked down two free throws during a 7-0 run. Going into the fourth quarter, the Pirates led 50-47.

After Heyn scored the quarter's opening bucket, Mills hit her fourth three-pointer of the game to give the Regals their first lead since 4:06 of the second quarter. Janna Holley knocked down another three while Mills and DiMuro added scores to put the Regals up 59-54 at the 4:54 mark of the fourth quarter. With 30 seconds to play, Kaiya Mack converted a huge layup off an inbounds play to extend the Regals' lead to six points, the shot that served as the dagger. 

THE NUMBERS
- Mills: 20 PTS, 4 REB, 7-11 FG, 4-8 3PT
- Heyn: 10 PTS, 3 REB, 4-6 FG, 2-2 3PT
- Ballard: 5 PTS, 21 REB, 4 AST

FROM SENIOR SARA MILLS
On finding her groove and bouncing back after two losses: "It feels great. I know the work I've put in the past and it hasn't shown yet this season but it was nice for it to finally come through. Especially after the past two games we've had which were kind of rough, it was really nice coming back and all coming together to get this win."

FROM HEAD COACH KELLI DIMURO
"I thought we came together more as a team. Offensively, we were smooth and fluid in the third and fourth quarter. Defensively, we were talking and more cohesive."

On Team Captain Sara Mills: "She works so hard and I'm glad she's feeling good about herself after that performance. Very proud of her." 

UP NEXT
The Regals remain at home as they look to make it two in a row against the visiting College of New Jersey on Friday, Dec. 20 at 11:30 a.m.