Foul trouble gives way to strong team effort as Panthers defeat CMS

ORANGE, Calif. – In a game that featured a combined 54 fouls, the Chapman University women's basketball team was forced to use its entire bench to defeat visiting Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 82-66 on Thursday night. All 13 Panthers saw playing time while 12 different players scored en route to Chapman's fifth straight win at the Hutton Sports Center.

Chapman (15-5) jumped out to an early lead, forcing three turnovers in the first two minutes to open up an 8-2 advantage. Despite the whistle blowing a total of 26 times in the first-half, the Panthers maintained their aggressive-style of play to force nine turnovers as they entered the break with a 39-30 lead.

Claremont-Mudd-Scrips (8-12) kept the game close at the start of the second half until junior guard Kimi Takaoka drained a deep three-pointer while being knocked to the floor with 14:39 remaining in the game. Takaoka converted on the free-throw attempt and the four-point play gave the Panthers a 53-39 lead. Chapman stretched the lead to as much as 21 points and never trailed in the contest.

Chapman made 31-of-39 free throw shots (79.5 percent) with nine different players visiting the charity stripe. The Panthers weren't the only ones benefiting from the high volume of fouls as the CMS Athenas went 23-for-37 from the line. Junior guard Madeline Barnes, who scored a game-high 22 points, was 10-of-13 from the stripe.

Sophomore guard Andrea Villanueva scored a team-high 19 points, out-pacing her season average of 9.4 points per game and coming within one point of her career-best. Freshman forward Sandra Gao added 15 points on four-of-five shooting, including 7 of 11 from the free-throw line.

The Panthers will look to extend their winning streak this Saturday as they play host to the La Verne Leopards in the first game of a doubleheader with the men's team playing immediately after. Three of the Panthers final five games will be played at the Hutton Sports Center.

by Ryan Cavinder
Sports Information Assistant

Boxscore: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20130131_9t5m.xml

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