Sixth-Ranked Trinity Pulls Away from CMS Women's Basketball in Fourth Quarter

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team went toe-to-toe with sixth-ranked Trinity (Texas) for three quarters, leading by one at the half and trailing by just four after three, but the Tigers were able to pull away in the fourth and take an 82-62 win over the Athenas on Friday evening at the Bell Center. 

Sophomore Katie Resendiz had new career highs with her first career double-double, finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Athenas, who slip to 0-2 on the young season with the loss. Trinity moves to 3-0 on the year with the win, behind a game-high 23 points from Jamie Ruede. 

The Athenas fell behind 8-0 and 14-3 in the game's opening minutes, but responded to the challenge and came back to take a 37-36 halftime lead on an Ava Grey three-pointer at the buzzer. A 7-0 run, with six points from Katie Resendiz during the spurt, got CMS quickly back within 14-10. The Tigers stretched the lead back out to eight, but Grey hit a three-pointer to help CMS stay within 23-16 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, CMS used a 6-0 to get back within 25-24, with Sadie Heckman, Cate Shingler and Marley Ragdsale scoring on successive possessions. After Trinity went ahead 34-29, Shingler scored a jumper and Heckman converted a three-point play on a fast break to tie it up 34-34 with 1:16 left in the half. After a Trinity basket, Grey had a steal and hit a three-pointer as time expired to give CMS its first lead of the game heading into the locker room.

CMS had its last lead at 45-44 on a lay-up from Kayla Ishibashi, and a lay-up from Tanya Ghai in transition tied it 47-47 with 1:56 left in the third. Trinity led 52-48 after three, and a three-point play from Resendiz had CMS within 54-51, but Ruede hit two straight three-pointers for Trinity as the Tigers pulled away.  

Heckman also finished in double figures for the Athenas with 10 points, while Resendiz had four steals and Syona Mandyam had three defensively. Ruede had seven three-pointers on 10 attempts for the Tigers on her way to a game-high 23 points. 

CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it faces Hardin-Simmons at Trinity for a 2 p.m. contest (Pacific time).