Hot-handed Chapman defeats Redlands 71-58

ORANGE, Calif. – Approaching the halfway mark of the conference schedule, the Chapman University women's basketball team earned a much-needed 71-58 victory over visiting University of Redlands at the Hutton Sports Center on Thursday night.

With the win, the Panthers pulled even with Redlands into a tie for fourth place in the SCIAC standings at 4-3 with nine games to play. The top four teams in the conference qualify for the postseason tournament which determines the SCIAC's NCAA postseason berth.

Trailing 21-19 with 9:02 left in the first half after a back-and-forth start to the game, Chapman (11-4 overall, 4-3 SCIAC) went on an 8-0 run which gave the Panthers a lead they would not surrender. A pair of baskets from junior G Kimi Takaoka aided the run and the Panthers went on to lead by as many as 10 points before the half came to a close with Chapman on top 41-32.

The hot-handed Panthers shot a season-best 64.5 percent (20-for-31) in the first half and finished at 52.8 percent for the game, also a season-high.

Chapman pushed the lead in the second half, earning a 17-point advantage – the largest of the night – at the 12:01 mark on a pair of free throws by senior G Emily McCoy.

Redlands (10-5 overall, 4-3 SCIAC) cut the lead to seven points with 1:09 remaining, but that was as close as it would get.

Four Chapman starters scored in double figures, led by freshman F Sandra Gao who scored 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field and grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore G Andrea Villanueva (14 points, four steals) and senior G Anne Yoshimura (13 points, five steals) also had big nights for the Panthers.

Takaoka, the Panthers' season scoring leader, was held below her season average (18.5 ppg), but still poured in 13 points.

Chapman won for the third straight game at home, snapping a brief two-game conference slide. The Panthers travel to Cal Lutheran University on Saturday night before returning home to begin the second half of conference play against Caltech on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20130117_59co.xml

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