Women's basketball comes up short in SCIAC final

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Chapman University women's basketball team's season came to end with a 65-54 loss at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the SCIAC Tournament final. Sophomore Jaryn Fajardo's near double-double led the Panthers in the loss.

Chapman made its first trip to the tournament final since 2014 but was unable to capture the title on the road. A slow start on the offensive end dug a 12-point hole by the middle of the second quarter. The Panthers shot just 20 percent in the first quarter and 28.6 percent in the second quarter as they trailed 25-18 at the half.

The Panthers picked up the shooting in the third, making 7-of-11 shots in the stanza to completely erase the deficit and take a two-point lead with 3:188 left to go in the quarter. Junior Jaime Hum-Nishikado gave the Panthers their first lead when she drained a three-pointer from the corner that put Chapman up 31-30. The lead traded hands a couple times over the next couple minutes but the Athenas were able to take a 40-38 lead into the fourth quarter.

Senior Lauren Sato scored six of her 11 points in the third quarter. She also had four rebounds and four assists. Fajardo finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Senior Megan Charles scored five points in her final game.

Kris Brackmann led the Athenas with a game-high 16 points and seven rebounds.

Freshman Lucy Criswell tied the game with a baseline jumper on the Panthers first possession of the fourth but CMS converted a three-point play on the other end and held on to the lead the rest of the way, pulling away with free throws down the stretch.

The Panthers shot just 30.5 percent in the game compared to the home team shooting 48.9 percent.

CMS claimed the SCIAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers finished the season with a 16-10 overall record and were the SCIAC regular season co-champs. 

by Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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