CMS Women's Basketball Starts New Year off With Big 58-50 Win at Redlands

REDLANDS, Calif. - Tanya Ghai scored 19 points and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team built off the momentum from its buzzer-beating win on Saturday with a 58-50 win over Redlands on Wednesday evening at Currier Gymnasium.

The Athenas improve to 3-9 on the season with their second straight win and improve to 1-3 in the SCIAC, while Redlands slips to 5-6 overall and 1-2 in the SCIAC with the loss. 

Ghai was coming off a big performance on Saturday, when she shot 6-6 from the floor in the fourth quarter, including a buzzer-beating game-winning three-pointer, in a 54-51 win at Wheaton. There was less drama this time out, but she did hit two key baskets in a game-ending 7-0 run after Redlands closed to within 51-50 with 4:29 to go. 

Ghai started the run with 4:19 to go when she knocked down a jumper, and after each team earned a stop, Kayla Ishibashi knocked down a jumper to push the lead to 55-50 with 3:05 to play. Mary Markaryan grabbed another big defensive rebound, and Ghai converted a driving lay-up with 2:26 to go. Ishibashi then had a steal to effectively seal it, as the Athenas were able to hold on for the big conference win. 

Redlands jumped out to a 10-5 lead with 5:23 left in the first quarter, but the Athenas clamped down on defense to outscore the Bulldogs 16-1 over almost the next 10 minutes, before Kayden Sanders hit a three-pointer for Redlands with 6:00 left in the second quarter to cut the CMS lead to 21-14. Sadie Heckman tied the score at 10-10, Ruva Kiara made two straight baskets to give CMS a 14-10 lead after the first, and Ghai knocked down a three-pointer to start the second quarter. 

The Bulldogs came all the way back to within 29-25 at the break, and tied the score 36-36 in the third, but Katie Resendiz gave CMS the lead for good with a layup. Syona Mandyam and Markaryan followed with jumpers, before a three-pointer from Ghai made it 45-39 after three. 

Resendiz joined Ghai in double figures with 10 points, while Heckman just missed joining them with nine points. Markaryan pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, and added three steals. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts Caltech for a 4 p.m. contest.