Women's basketball falls in defensive battle

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's basketball team came out on the wrong end of a defensive battle in the Hutton Sports Center, falling 46-36 to visiting Northwestern on Tuesday. Neither team could find consistent scoring but Northwestern pulled away in the second quarter and held on for the win.

Northwestern's 18 points in the second quarter amounted to the only time either team surpassed an 11-point total for a quarter. The Eagles shot just 34 percent on the night, including a 4-for-23 mark from three-point range. While the suffocating Panther defense forced 24 turnovers, the offense could not get into a shooting rhythm until the final moments of the game. Chapman shot just 19 percent for the game.

Senior Julia Strand came off the bench to post another double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds as well as two assists and a block to lead the Panthers. Brittany McPherson scored 12 points and had five steals. Grace Landvik came off the bench for Northwestern to score a game-high 15 points.

The Panthers had an 11-8 lead after the first quarter with their defense stifling the Eagles shooters. However, the Eagles held Chapman to just four points in the second quarter. Strand dropped in a layup with 8:11 to go in the quarter to put Chapman up 13-8 but Northwestern surged on a 15-0 run over the next seven-plus minutes to take a 23-13 lead with under one minute to play in the half.

The 15-0 run proved to be the difference in the game as Chapman outscored Northwestern 11-9 in the third to cut into the lead but scored just four points over the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter to fall behind by 16 points. McPherson fueled a 6-0 run over the final minute to end the game.

Chapman's 36 points are the fewest for the program since scoring 37 points in an NCAA Tournament loss to Howard Payne. The combined point total of 82 points is the fewest for Chapman since combining for 83 points in a 45-38 win over Redlands in 2016.

With Amherst cancelling their West Coast trip, the Panthers no longer have a game scheduled for Dec. 31. They jump back into the SCIAC schedule on Wed., Jan 5 with a 7 p.m. home game against Whittier.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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