Women's basketball goes 1-2 on season-opening road trip

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's basketball home-opener vs. Redlands on Dec. 4 is still a few weeks away but that doesn't mean there aren't games to be played. Over the weekend the women's basketball team kicked off its season with a three-game road trip to Oregon, defeating Linfield College and then losing to Corban College and George Fox University.

The Panthers started the trip with a 71-67 win over Linfield College on Friday night in a back-and-forth-game that saw nine ties and seven lead changes. Most of the lead changes took place in the first half and the game was tied 34-34 at halftime. Chapman led for much of the second half, building its lead to as many as nine points on a bucket by senior F Simone Ibbotson at the 8:46 mark and pushing the lead to 53-49. Over the next five minutes, Linfield went on a 17-7 run to take a 61-60 lead with four minutes remaining. Ibbotson then gave the Panthers the lead for good with a bucket. The Panthers were led by Ibbotson's 18 points and 16 from senior G Casey Gomez.

The second game of the trip didn't go nearly as well as Chapman (1-2) lost 98-67 to Corban on Saturday. Chapman led for the first four minutes of the game, building a 10-9 lead. Corban then outscored Chapman 42-20 over the remainder of the half to take a 51-30 halftime lead. The Warriors built their advantage to as many as 35 points late in the second half. Ibbotson had a team-high 13 points followed by 11 points from senior C Brandi Hood.

The Panthers closed out the trip against George Fox, losing 75-57. The Bruins led 41-29 at halftime but pushed its lead to as many as 24 points with 6:39 remaining in the game. Hood and Ibbotson each finished with a team-high 15 points.

by Chris Watts
Sports Information Assistant