Masuno, Ishibashi Help CMS Women's Basketball Knock Off SCIAC Unbeaten Redlands

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Austyn Masuno had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Kayla Ishibashi added a career-high 21 points on 9-12 shooting as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team earned a 74-70 win over a Redlands team that came into Saturday night undefeated and alone in first place in the SCIAC.

The win was the fourth in a row for CMS, which improves to 8-9 overall and 4-4 in the SCIAC, while Redlands slips to 11-3 overall and 7-1 in league play. 

Flora Durgerian added 11 points for the Athenas, including a putback with four seconds left to make it a four-point game and seal the win, as Redlands was hoping to get a stop and a timeout to set up for a try at the tie or win. With CMS up one, Masuno converted a big three-point play with 57 seconds left to make it a four-point lead, before Redlands cut the lead to two with 33 seconds left. 

CMS had to dig down repeatedly over the course of the game to prevent Redlands from pulling away. The Bulldogs led 15-6 with 3:40 left in the first quarter, before Jacey Carter hit a three-pointer and Ishibashi made a layup to close to within 15-11. Ava Grey then capped off the opening 10 minutes with a three-pointer to pull CMS within just a single point at 19-18. 

Redlands again threatened to pull away in the second quarter, pulling out to a 33-20 lead with 4:56 left in the half, but Ishibashi had an old-fashioned three-point play, Eliza Friend made a couple of short jumpers in the paint, and Ishibashi finished off the half with a jumper to keep CMS within 37-31 at the half. 

The Athenas started the second half strong and pulled even at 41-41 on an Ishibashi three-pointer. A Durgerian three-pointer then gave CMS its first lead at 46-44, before Redlands made its third attempt to pull away, using a 9-0 run to take a 53-46 lead. 

The Bulldogs still led 57-52 after three quarters, but CMS was able to come up big with 22 points in the fourth. Durgerian hit a pair of three-pointer to give the Athenas leads, the first at 59-58 with 8:40 left and the second to break a 62-62 tie with 5:42 to go. Friend hit a short jumper to give CMS a five-point lead, and Redlands was able to get it back down to one with just over a minute left, but Masuno had a three-point play and Durgerian a putback on the final two possessions to enable the Athenas to hang on. 

CMS will be back in action on Wednesday when it travels to Caltech for a 7 p.m. contest.