Women’s basketball hosts Cal Lutheran in SCIAC semifinal

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's basketball team enters the SCIAC Postseason tournament as the No. 2 seed after finishing the regular season as the SCIAC co-champions. The Panthers (21-4, 15-1 SCIAC) welcome No. 3 Cal Lutheran (15-10, 10-6 SCIAC) to Hutton Sports Center as they square up for the third time this season.

• Under head Coach Carol Jue, Chapman has made it to the SCIAC Postseason Tournament every year since joining the conference in 2012 and advanced to the championship game three times.
• Chapman and Cal Lutheran are meeting in the semifinal game for the fifth consecutive season and have met in all of the Panthers' six trips to the tournament. The Panthers are 2-2 against the Regals in the semifinal. Cal Lutheran took home the victory when the two teams met in the 2012-13 Championship game.
• Chapman found themselves in its first double-digit win streak since the 2015-16 season. The Panthers' historic 15-game win streak was snapped with a loss to Claremont-M-S on Saturday night.
• Chapman is led by sophomore Lucy Criswell, who is averaging a team-high 14.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. She currently holds the single-season school record for blocks with 31 this year. Criswell also ranks second in the SCIAC in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 41.8 percent from beyond the arc.
• Senior Jaime Hum-Nishikado left her mark on the Chapman record books this year, becoming just the eighth player to reach 1,000 career points since the Panthers joined the ranks of the NCAA Division III in 1994. She is averaging 13.3 points per game and leads the team and the SCIAC from the free-throw line, shooting 91.5 percent.
• The Regals are led on offense by senior Kiana Gray, who is averaging 11.1 points per game. Junior Kayla Watterson leads Cal Lutheran and ranks second in the SCIAC with 10.2 rebounds per game.
• Chapman is 29-15 all-time against the Regals and have won the last five consecutive games against the side, including two victories in the 2017-18 season. The last time these two teams matched up, the Panthers came away with the four-point victory after forcing Cal Lutheran to commit 22 turnovers and scoring 24 points off those turnovers.

by Katie Bell
Sports Information Assistant

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