CMS Women's Basketball Controls Second Half for Big Road Win over Cal Lutheran

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team trailed 38-32 at the break, but held Cal Lutheran to only 21 points after intermission as it rallied for a big 68-59 road win on Wednesday evening at Gilbert Arena.

With the win, CMS moves to 9-4 overall and 5-1 in the SCIAC, remaining in a tie for second place in the league standings with Redlands behind La Verne (7-0). Cal Lutheran falls to 9-4 overall and 3-3 in the SCIAC with the loss, slipping two games behind Redlands and CMS into fourth place. 

Renee Chong made her first start and had a team-high 16 points, while Ariana Dalia added 14 and Jacey Carter just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. 

Dalia hit a three-pointer to get CMS within 42-39 with 6:42 left in the third, and Chong followed with a layup to close the gap to one. Dalia scored with 3:35 left in the third off a pass from Mary Markaryan to give CMS its first lead of the second half, and after Cal Lutheran answered, Markaryan knocked down a three-pointer to put CMS ahead 48-46. 

Chong closed out the third quarter with a driving layup to make it a 52-47 CMS lead heading into the fourth. Cal Lutheran, though, responded with two three-pointers to take the lead back at 53-52, before Ruva Kiara converted a lay-up off a feed from Kayla Ishibashi to put CMS ahead to stay with 7:45 left.

The score was stuck at 55-53 for several possessions, before Grace Florendo drove for a lay-up with 5:15 left to make it a four-point CMS lead.  Dalia hit two foul shots, and Ishibashi had a big three-point play with 3:18 to go to get the lead up to nine at 62-53, and Cal Lutheran was unable to make a run to get back into it down the stretch. 

CMS outscored Cal Lutheran 20-9 in the third quarter, and held the Regals to only 8-30 shooting in the second half. 

The Athenas will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Caltech for a 2 p.m. contest.