CMS Women's Basketball Rolls to Second Straight Lopsided Win, Defeats TCNJ 87-52

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior forward Gloria Bates had 16 points and senior guard Teeana Cotangco had 15 as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team captured its second lopsided win of the David Wells Classic, defeating The College of New Jersey 87-52 on Saturday night at Roberts Pavilion.

With the win, CMS improves to 4-1 on the year, after also picking up a 34-point win over Dallas yesterday (58-24) on the first day of the David Wells Classic. The College of New Jersey falls to 1-3 on the year, and 0-2 at the Wells Classic, after falling 71-60 to Pomona-Pitzer yesterday. 

The Athenas have made their mark with defense in the early part of this season, but were dominant on both sides of the ball on Saturday night. The 87 points easily eclipsed the season high for CMS this year (the 58 against Dallas was its previous high-water mark), while the team shot almost 50 percent from the floor (37-75, 49.3 percent) and had 23 assists and only 13 turnovers. The Athena defense remained its usual dominant self as well, holding TCNJ below 30 percent from the floor (17-57, 29.8 percent) and forcing 21 turnovers. 

CMS wasted little time in asserting itself, jumping out to an 11-2 lead in the game's opening minutes. Junior forward Lindsey Cleary and sophomore guard Maezelle Millan started the game out with lay-ups, and after the Lions cut it to 4-2, sophomore forward Kate Parrish had a lay-up, Cotangco hit a three-pointer, and senior guard Corinne Bogle hit a jumper to make it 11-2 just over four minutes into the game. TCNJ withstood the early barrage and cut it to 15-10, but CMS scored the next six points to take a double-digit lead at 21-10 on a Cotangco lay-up. 

TCNJ had the score within 34-24 midway through the second quarter, before another quick 6-0 run from the Athenas pushed the lead up to 40-24 on a Bates lay-up with 3:15 left in the half. A late three-pointer from Cotango made the margin 44-27 at the half, the largest lead that CMS had in the opening stanza. 

Millan set the tone in the second half, forcing a steal just six seconds after the break, before scoring the first basket after the intermission. A three-pointer from senior forward Ellery Koelker-Wolfe made the score 49-27, and the Athenas were never threatened the rest of the way. Cotangco capped off the third quarter with a jumper to give the Athenas a 72-39 lead heading into the fourth and CMS was able to play its reserves over the final 10 minutes. 

Several players for CMS made strong use of their fourth-quarter minutes. Sophomore point guard Katelynn Nguyen had four points, four assists and no turnovers in eight minutes of work, while freshman forward Jane Baldwin pulled down six rebounds and blocked three shots in only nine minutes.

Junior guard Maya Love was also in double figures for the Athenas with 10 points, while CMS finished with a commanding 50-30 edge in the rebounding department. Parrish saw her first extended action of the season after not playing on the team's opening trip with an injury and finished with nine points and a team-high seven rebounds. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday, when they open SCIAC play with a big home contest against Chapman at 5 p.m. The Athenas and Panthers tied for the SCIAC regular season title last year at 15-1, and Chapman ended up winning the SCIAC's automatic bid with a double-overtime victory over CMS in the SCIAC Tournament title game.