THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Inside of the Gilbert Arena this evening, the Cal Lutheran women's basketball team took the court against San Diego Christian and enjoyed a 72-52 victory with a strong second half during finals week.
Cal Lutheran opened an early 12-6 lead, but the Hawks clawed back into the game and with 4:44 remaining in the opening frame the teams found themselves knotted 21-21. After a free-throw by Janelle Porter broke up the tie, SDC responded with back-to-back three-pointers from Anderian Carbonel to generate some momentum on the visiting side of the court. A huge defensive rebound from Jessica Salottolo with 41 ticks to go in the period allowed CLU to take a timeout and set up a play. The Regals looked to Porter who sank a three-pointer on an assist from Natalie Stone to put the home team back on top, 31-29, going into the intermission.
After the break, Salottolo scored the first four points, but San Diego Christian stayed hot behind the arc to briefly keep it a one possession game. A quick 6-0 run that included consecutive buckets from Taylor Messick stretched the advantage to nine points. Stone came away with an offensive rebound with just over eight minutes to play and after being fouled, following a timeout, she finished off the and-one to give Cal Lutheran a 10-point, 54-44, lead. The Regals would not relinquish double figures for the remainder of regulation.
CLU was led by 15 points from Salottolo with both Porter and Haley Hodgson adding 10, whose points came on 4-for-5 shooting. Stone handed out a game-high eight assists. Defensively, Messick grabbed 10 rebounds, five at each end of the court, and tallied a block as did Trianna Owen. Chelsea Jacoby finished with four steals to lead all players and came down with eight rebounds, followed by seven from Sofia Cruz.
In a collective effort, there were numerous contributors today with 11 players stepping on the court and 10 scoring at least two points. As a team, the Regals shot 46.5 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the Hawks 45-26 with nine more offensive rebounds (19) than the visiting team. Kassie Krueger made her collegiate debut in the second half.
San Diego Christian (4-7) was led by 11 points apiece from Carbonel and Gabriell Concepcion who also added four assists. Tonight, SDC shot 39.6 percent from the field. Angela Pena was the top SDC rebounder with five and Alexis Whittaker finished with a block in the loss.
Cal Lutheran (3-3) heads to the Pacific Northwest this weekend to face Puget Sound (Wash.) and Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 20 and 21, respectively. Tip-off against UPS will be at 4:00 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 72, SDC 52
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