Women’s basketball wins 15th straight on senior night

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's basketball team clinched at least a share of the SCIAC title with a dominant 97-69 victory over the visiting Occidental tonight. The Panthers (21-3, 15-0 SCIAC) were led by sophomore Lucy Criswell, who posted a career-high 28 points against the Tigers (11-13, 5-10 SCIAC).

Criswell continues to put up career numbers in only her sophomore year. After her three blocks tonight, she now ranks first in Chapman history in blocks in a single season with 30. Criswell also added eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals to her stat line. Junior Jaryn Fajardo tallied her second double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. She was just two assists shy of a triple-double while also recording two steals.

Each senior put numbers up on the board in their final home game of the regular season. Jaime Hum-Nishikado led the pack with 17 points, three assists and three steals. Irma Munoz put up nine points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal. Sydney Olivier put up two points and grabbed a couple rebounds off the bench for the Panthers.

The first quarter saw six lead changes early on, but Criswell hit her second of six three pointers with just under seven minutes left to play in the quarter to give Chapman its final lead of the game. Freshman Brittany McPherson converted an and-one to give the Panthers an eight point lead with over four minutes left to play in the quarter. After exchanging points, Munoz made the last layup of the quarter, giving Chapman a 10 point lead heading into the second quarter.

Hum-Nishikado hit one of her three pointers just over two minutes into the second quarter to extend Chapman's lead to 12 points. The Panthers then went on a 12-4 run, furthering their lead to 18 points. Chapman scored the last four points of the quarter, bringing the score to 52-33 going into halftime.

It was all Panther action from then on, as Hum-Nishikado and Criswell hit back-to-back threes to open up the third quarter. Criswell drained another three with under three minutes left to play to give Chapman a 20 point lead. She finished out the quarter with another three and a jumper at the buzzer, bringing the Panthers' lead up to 23 points.

Chapman's reserves all saw time in the fourth quarter. Freshmen Camryn Hamaguchi and Taylor Hextrum each tallied two points and sophomore Eleni Giotinis grabbed two boards. Hextrum put up the last layup for the Panthers, followed by a layup from Tiger freshman Kaleinani Nallira that ended the game.

Chapman shot 43.5 percent from downtown and 75 percent from behind the line. The Panthers forced 21 turnovers and scored 20 points off those turnovers.

Chapman heads to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday for the deciding game of the SCIAC regular season. The Panthers return home on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. to host the semifinals of the SCIAC Postseason Tournament.

by Katie Bell
Sports Information Assistant

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