Implications are...Panthers streak into tournament contention
ORANGE, Calif. – In a game dripping with SCIAC Tournament implications, the Chapman University women's basketball team remained red-hot, defeating visiting University of La Verne 89-77 at Hutton Center on Saturday night, leapfrogging the Leopards into fourth place in the conference standings. The top four teams qualify for the SCIAC Tournament and a chance to earn an automatic berth into the NCAA playoffs.
Chapman (16-5 overall, 8-4 SCIAC) held the fast-paced offense of La Verne (10-10 overall, 7-4 SCIAC) to a 15-game low 77 points, well below its season average of 85-plus points per game. In doing so, the Leopards lost their fourth consecutive contest, descending from first place to fifth place in just two weeks.
The Panthers on the other hand have now won four in a row, one shy of their season high, and avenged a January loss to La Verne to split the season series. Chapman more than kept pace with the Leos, shooting over 50 percent from the floor (33-for-62; 53.2 percent) and out-rebounding them 49-41 in the game.
A back-and-forth game over the first 10 minutes, Chapman took the lead for good on back-to-back baskets by freshman F Sandra Gao, putting the Panthers up 24-21 with 10:15 remaining in the first half. La Verne kept it close over the next five minutes, but Chapman opened up a 12-4 run late in the period to take a 44-35 lead with 52 seconds left – its largest of the half – and led by seven at the break.
An 11-3 run to open the second half extended the Panthers' lead to 15 points at 55-40 with 16:09 remaining as junior G Kimi Takaoka completed a three-point play and followed that up with another jumper. The Leopards trimmed the lead to six midway through the half, before Chapman put the game out of reach with a 14-4 run to make it 79-63 with 6:05 left and the Panthers cruised from there.
Takaoka finished with a game-high 26 points on 11 of 17 shooting and grabbed four rebounds. Gao earned her first double-double in over a month and sixth of the year with a 24-point, 13-board performance and added a blocked shot.
Senior G Anne Yoshimura (12 points) and sophomore G Andrea Villanueva (10 points) each scored in double figures for Chapman. Yoshimura added seven rebounds and six assists.
La Verne was paced by Amanda Copas and Brittni Tapia who finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
The win was Chapman's sixth straight on its home floor and improved the Panthers' season record at Hutton Center to 6-1. Chapman has just four games remaining in conference to try to remain among the top four teams in the standings. Only one of those opponents (Pomona-Pitzer) is ahead of them in the standings and has a winning record.
by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director
Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20130202_c156.xml
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