LA VERNE, Calif. - The women's basketball season finale for the Cal Lutheran Regals was a hard fought battle from beginning to end, but with the determination and desire of the 2012-13 squad the Violet and Gold came back from a nine-point first half deficit to defeat La Verne 81-78 tonight at the Frantz Athletic Court and earn the sixth SCIAC title in program history.
In their final regular season game for the Regals, the senior duo of Erica Whitley and Starla Wright combined for 55 points, scoring 29 and 26, respectively. Whitley recorded a season-high on 10-for-19 shooting while Wright was 10-for-14 from the field. Each senior was 6-for-6 at the charity stripe and Wright added nine rebounds, a block and a steal while Whitley handed out four assists with four steals and six boards.
After Wrightscored the first basket of the evening, the Leopards stormed out to a 17-6 lead. Wright then sparked an 8-2 CLU run to pull back within four. At the 9:22 mark in the opening half Jazmyne Porter hit a three-pointer on an assist from Whitleyto get the Regals within one score at 29-26.
On the ensuing Leopards possession Brittni Tapia knocked down a three-pointer to ignite the ULV offense that went on to score nine unanswered points and push the Leos advantage to 12.
A foul put Whitley on the line where she connected for both and followed up with a steal and a layup nine seconds later. With 6:45 to go, Wright broke the double-figure La Verne lead and it seemed as though the Regals would chip their way right back into things. Instead, ULV used three-pointers on consecutive possessions to take a 13-point advantage.
Porter would grab an offensive rebound with 1:39 in the opening stanza and was fouled on the way down. She converted both free-throw attempts to get the deficit back to single digits at 51-42 as the teams headed to the locker rooms.
Cal Lutheran came back to the court with a vengeance, opening the half on a 10-0 run to take their first lead since the initial bucket of the game on a Rachel Heagy layup on an assist from Natalie Stone.
The teams continued to teeter-totter over the next nine minutes with neither squad leading by more than three points.
La Verne would hit back-to-back baskets to again push their lead to seven at 73-66, but again Whitley jump started the Regals with a pair of free-throws and a three-pointer, followed by a Channing Fleischmann three-pointer to put CLU back on top at 74-73 with just under four minutes to play in regulation. A Whitley bucket and two free-throws from Fleischmann at 3:07 gave Cal Lutheran a five-point cushion.
Two converted free-throws for La Verne from Amanda Copas at 2:04 were negated with a three-pointer from Porter on the following CLU possession.
At 1:14 Whitley and a La Verne player got their feet tangled, sending the CLU senior to the sidelines.
Leading by three points, Fleischmann fired off a three with 45 seconds to play and got her own rebound. After a timeout CLU tried to use the clock and ended up in a scrum at half court with ULV recovering a loose ball with a chance to tie it.
The CLU defense forced an unbalanced three-point attempt and clinched the victory and sole possession of the 2012-13 SCIAC title.
CLU held the potent three-point shooting of La Verne to just five (27.8 percent) in the second half. Overall, CLU slightly edged ULV by hitting 42.4 percent from the floor with the Leopards shooting 41.5 on the evening. Both teams were solid at the line with CLU converting 18-for-21 and ULV connecting on 8-for-9.
Megan Musashi paced all players with 31 points for the Leopards while Tapia tallied 17 and Lindsey Foster recorded a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Cal Lutheran (21-4, 13-3 SCIAC) has concluded its SCIAC regular season, though six teams will close out the season on Monday, Feb. 18. Pairings for the SCIAC Post Season Tournament will be released on Monday evening, though Cal Lutheran is guaranteed to host a round one game on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Gilbert Arena.
Box Score: CLU 81, ULV 78
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