CMS Women's Basketball Wins Third Straight, Rolls Past Cal Lutheran 73-45

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior forward Kate Parrish had 15 points and nine rebounds to lead a dominant effort on the glass (54-28) as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team held its third straight opponent under 50 points and captured a 73-45 win over Cal Lutheran on Wednesday night at Roberts Pavilion.

With the win, CMS improves to 12-6 overall and 5-4 in league play, while sweeping the season series from Cal Lutheran after winning the first meeting in the final second 88-86. Cal Lutheran slips to 6-12 overall and 3-7 with the loss. 

The Athenas asserted themselves on the defensive end of the floor right from the start, taking a 23-9 lead after the first quarter of play. CMS has now held all three of its opponents on its current winning streak to single digits in the first quarter, after leading Occidental 21-4 after the first 10 minutes on Jan. 22 and Chapman 10-9 on Saturday after holding the Panthers without a point for the first 7:10 of the game. 



"I think one of the things that we take pride on is that defense is something that we really know we can knock it out of the park on when all five of us work together," said Parrish. "I think at the beginning of the game today we said that if we just come out and we shut them out defensively, we'll going to roll offensively and things will work out."    

Cal Lutheran was able to stay within 10-7 over the game's first four minutes before the Athenas were able to use a 13-2 run to push their lead to 14 heading into the second quarter. Senior forward Lindsey Cleary started the run with a jumper, and first-year guard Jacey Carter hit two three-pointers 24 seconds apart to make it an 18-7 game. Senior forward Gloria Bates and first-year forward Austyn Masuno capped off the quarter with consecutive layups to give CMS the 23-9 lead. 

The Regals scored the first five points of the second quarter and got as close as eight points at 26-18, but senior guard Lauren Longo jump-started another CMS run with two three-pointers, and junior guard Katelynn Nguyen knocked down another one to put CMS in front 40-21 with 1:12 left in the half, capping off a 14-3 spurt. Cal Lutheran made the final basket of the half to make the score 40-23 at the break, but CMS outscored the Regals 21-11 in the third to prevent any thoughts of a comeback. 

A total of 12 different players scored for CMS, with Parrish the only one in double figures. Carter ended up with nine points for the Athenas on three three-pointers, while Masuno had seven points off the bench and sophomore Elizabeth Howell-Egan added five to help CMS to a 38-12 advantage in bench points. 

The first meeting came down to the final possession, with Cleary providing the winning points on a layup off an inbounds pass in the final second, but this time the Athenas were able to control the game throughout and hold the Regals to half as many points. Parrish feels like the 28-point margin of victory in the rematch is a strong barometer to show how much the team has improved in the last couple of weeks. 

"We really turned it around and showed how much we can improve in a short amount of time," said Parrish. "Again, it's all about defense. If we lock in on defense, we're going to have a really great rest of our season." 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday for a road game at Whittier, looking to split the season series after dropping the first meeting at home on Jan. 4. The Athenas will then return home to face Pomona-Pitzer next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.