Criswell drops 31 points as women's basketball advances

ORANGE, Calif. – The rubber game is set. The Chapman University women's basketball advanced to the SCIAC Tournament championship game with a 75-52 victory over third-seeded Cal Lutheran on Thursday.

The Panthers (22-4) will travel to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday for the championship game after the Athenas narrowly defeated fourth-seeded Redlands 69-65. The Athenas and Panthers shared the conference championship this year aftr splitting the season series but CMS won a coin flip to claim the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

Sophomore Lucy Criswell proved why she was named the SCIAC Athlete of the Year just hours prior to the game with a career-best 31-point performance. Junior Jaryn Fajardo distributed nine assists to go along with her 11 points, four rebounds and two assists – all without a single turnover. Senior Jaime Hum-Nishikado scored 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting with five rebounds.

After allowing five of the first seven points scored in the game, the Panthers finished the first quarter on a 16-3 run to seize control of the game and never relinquished the lead. Freshman Brittany McPherson knocked down a three-pointer to the game at 5-5 and Fajardo found Criswell in the lane for an easy layup on the next trip down to make it 7-5 Panthers.

Chapman never trailed again as it went on a 7-0 run over a two and a half minute span in the first quarter to open up a nine point lead. The Panthers led by 10 at the end of the first quarter and opened up a 13-point lead in the second as they held Cal Lutheran without a field goal for an eight-minute segment of the first and second quarters.

The lead grew to 15 at halftime and to as many as 30 points at the midway point of the fourth quarter.

Chapman shot 44 percent on the night while holding the Regals to just 32 percent shooting. With Criswell knocking down 5-of-9 from beyond the arc, the Panthers shot 8-of-13 as a team from long-range while holding the Regals to 8-of-25 shooting. The Panthers also won the battle on the glass 41-33, including 13 offensive rebounds. Chapman forced 14 turnovers, which it turned into 17 points.

The Panthers continued to build their lead in the second behind 20 second-half points from Criswell.

Tip-off for Saturday's championship game will be determined after the men's semifinal tomorrow with CMS having the possibility to host both championship games.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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