Lindsey Cleary, Maya Love Earn First-Team All-SCIAC Honors
CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior guard Maya Love was named to the All-SCIAC first team for the second year in a row, and junior forward Lindsey Cleary earned the honor for the first time in a vote of the league's coaches, the conference office announced this afternoon.
Love and Cleary helped guide the Athenas to the outright regular season SCIAC title, finishing up with a 23-2 overall record and a 15-1 mark in league play heading into Thursday night's semifinals (home vs. Redlands at 7 p.m.). CMS has won its last 19 games in a row heading into the postseason, since falling to Chapman on Dec. 1, and is one win shy of tying the program record for wins in a season with its 24th.
Love finished up the regular season averaging 12.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, including just shy of a double-double in league games at 12.6 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. She was twice named the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week, including last week, when she had six steals against La Verne and helped hold two opponents (La Verne, Cal Lutheran) without a field goal for an entire quarter. She capped off her regular season with season highs of 21 points and 17 rebounds in the Cal Lutheran contest, a 57-43 win.
Cleary has been the backbone of the team's interior defense this season, while also chipping in at the offensive end with 7.7 points per game on 51.0 percent shooting from the floor. She has helped the Athenas consistently dominate in paint points, including a three-game stretch in which CMS outscored its opponents 102-26 in the paint (vs. Pomona-Pitzer, Redlands and Whittier). She came up big in big games as well, with 17 points in the first meeting with Chapman and 10 points on 5-5 shooting in a battle for first place with Pomona-Pitzer.
CMS heads into the SCIAC Tournament looking to return to the winner's circle after falling in double overtime to Chapman last season. The Athenas have won at least a share of the regular season league title for six seasons in a row, and last year's double-overtime loss snapped a streak of four straight conference tournament championships.
The CMS-Redlands winner will move on to the Saturday championship game for the right to earn the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. If CMS wins, it will host the championship against the winner between Chapman and Pomona-Pitzer, which would tip off on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Roberts Pavilion.
To view the complete list of SCIAC award winners, go to the following link:
SCIAC 2018-19 Women's Basketball Awards