CMS Women's Basketball Opens With Two Home Games This Weekend

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team will begin its 2021-22 season this weekend, when it hosts the Southwest Assemblies of God American Indian College on Friday night at 7 p.m., and then meets Pacific (Ore.) on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.

It has been a two-year wait to return to action for the Athenas, who were last in action when they dropped a heartbreaker to Redlands in overtime in the 2020 SCIAC Championship game. All five starters on that team were upperclass players who have since graduated, as Head Coach Chanel Murchison and her staff enter 2021-22 with a nearly clean slate as the Athenas try to pick up where they left off as one of the perennial top teams in the SCIAC. 

Although the Athenas graduated a lot of talented players in the last two years, the cupboard is far from bare, as CMS returns six players off the 2019-20 team, who all saw significant game action. Four seniors will provide veteran leadership, as Flora Durgerian, Jocelyn Song and Elizabeth Howell-Egan will return to the perimeter positions, and Jane Baldwin (4.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg) returns at one of the forward spots.

Jacey Carter and Austyn Masuno had big impacts in their rookie seasons in 2019-20, and will be expected to be a potent inside-outside combination for CMS this year. Carter shot 38.1 percent from three-point territory as a first-year, hitting 32 threes in 84 attempts and twice knocking down four three-pointers in a game. Masuno averaged 5.4 points off the bench, and had 16 points in just 15 minutes in a rivalry win over Pomona-Pitzer. 

The Athenas will rely heavily on its younger players, though, as nine first-years and sophomores will make up the 15-player roster, none of whom have any collegiate experience following the loss of the 2020-21 season to the pandemic. The sophomore class consists of center Eliza Friend, forward Mary Markaryan, and guards Nicole Hayase and Sadie Heckman, while the first-years include post player Gwen Gilmore, wings Kayla Ishibashi and Ruva Kiara, and guards Grace Florendo and Ava Grey. 

SAGU American Indian College, located in Phoenix, Arizona, will be visiting Southern California to take on both CMS and La Verne this weekend. The Warriors were most recently in action against Ottawa (Ariz.) University on Tuesday night, falling 78-53. Pacific opened with a 72-65 win over UC Santa Cruz last weekend, and will face Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday, before meeting the Athenas on Sunday. 

After its opening weekend, CMS will take to the road on Nov. 20-21 to compete in the NYU Tip-Off Classic, facing Bridgewater State and NYU. the Athenas will then be back home for the annual David Wells Classic on Thanksgiving Weekend, meeting Willamette and Whitworth on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27, respectively. 

Following its two tournaments, the Athenas will then open SCIAC play at the same place they left it two years ago, traveling to Redlands to take on the Bulldogs for a 7 p.m. contest on Dec. 1. CMS has its home conference opener on Saturday, Dec. 4 against Pomona-Pitzer at 7 p.m., the second half of a rivalry doubleheader with the Stags basketball team, which faces the Sagehens at 5 p.m.