CMS Women's Basketball Secures Outright Regular Season SCIAC Title, Defeats Cal Lutheran 57-43

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team capped off a dominant regular season with a 57-43 win at Cal Lutheran on Saturday, picking up its 19th straight win and securing the outright regular season SCIAC title.

Junior guard Maya Love had 21 points and 17 rebounds, both season highs, while sophomore forward Kate Parrish added a double-double off the bench with 14 points and 12 rebounds. CMS improves to 23-2 overall on the year and 15-1 in the SCIAC, winning the regular season title by one game over Pomona-Pitzer, the sixth straight season that has won at least a share of the SCIAC crown. 

Defense was once again the story for the Athenas, which held Cal Lutheran to only three points in the second quarter (all from the foul line) and 43 for the game. It was the tenth game in a row that CMS has held its opponent to 55 points or less, seven of which have seen its opponents fail to reach the 50-point mark. 

The first quarter saw the Athenas hold a narrow 16-13 lead as the Regals' Jozie Tangeman beat the buzzer with a three-pointer, which would be the last basket that Cal Lutheran would make from the floor until midway through the third quarter. Neither team scored for the first 3:40 of the second quarter, before junior guard Gloria Bates hit a jumper while being fouled to give CMS a 19-13 lead. Sophomore point guard Katelynn Nguyen then hit a three-pointer to make it 22-13.

A Parrish lay-up made it a 12-0 CMS run and a 28-13 lead, before Cal Lutheran hit a foul shot with 2:00 on the clock for its first point of the second quarter. Cameron Mallory made two foul shots for the Regals with 48 seconds left, but they were unable to convert a field goal in the entire quarter as two Love foul shots made it a 30-16 CMS lead at the half. 

Senior guard Corinne Bogle hit a three-pointer with 7:51 left in the third quarter to push the lead to 35-16 before Cal Lutheran ended a 13:04 field goal drought with a three-pointer by Rylie Wada. It was the second time this week that CMS held its opponents without a field goal for over 13 minutes, as La Verne missed its last 28 shots from the floor over the final 14:36 in Monday night's game at Roberts Pavilion, which CMS won 75-43. 

Cal Lutheran battled back to within 49-39 with 5:46 to play, but was unable to get the lead into single digits, as CMS held on for its 19th straight win. 

In addition to its defensive numbers, CMS also held a 57-31 edge in the rebounding department, behind the 17 from Love and 12 from Parrish. As a result, CMS had 68 shot attempts in the game, to only 43 from Cal Lutheran. 

With the regular season in the books, the Athenas will return to action on Thursday night at Roberts Pavilion for the SCIAC semifinals, taking on Redlands at 7 p.m.