ORANGE, Calif. - The Cal Lutheran women's basketball team, under the guidance of first-year head coach Lindsay Goldbatt, had its season come to a close Thursday night as it fell to 72-68 to Chapman in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Post Season Tournament Semifinal. After trailing by double digits for much the game, Cal Lutheran cut the Panther lead to within three in the final 30 seconds but could never overcome a cold-shooting first half where it shot just 23 percent (8-of-35).
CLU scored the first two baskets of the game but after tying the game at 6-6, Chapman would go on a 22-8 run over the next six minutes to push its lead to 28-14. Chelsea Jacoby had 14 of CLU's 24 first half points including two three-pointers but Chapman would take 37-24 lead into halftime.
The Panthers would stretch its lead to as many 17 through the first seven minutes of the second half before Cal Lutheran would mount its comeback. Trailing 51-34 with 12:15, CLU subbed in five new players and immediately got a spark from the new players as Jessica Salottolo made a jump shot and then Taylor Messick came up with a steal on the defensive end that led to a Sofia Cruz jumper.
The Regals defense would then hold the Panthers scoreless on six of their next seven possessions as CLU crawled back and the cut the lead to nine at 53-44 when Messick put in a basket. Cal Lutheran then forced a turnover and capitalized with Natalie Stone sinking a shot on the other end while bringing the Regals to within seven.
Chapman responded with a 9-2 run over the next two minutes and pushed its lead back up to 14 at 62-48 with 6:12 left to play.
Salottolo halted the Panther surge with a three-pointer and then later made two free-throws. Following a steal from Stone, Haley Hodgson found the bottom of the hoop off an assist from Jacoby that trimmed the CLU deficit to nine at 64-55 and forced a Chapman timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, CLU got three pointers from Jacoby and Salottolo with under a minute to play to bring the CU lead to within five at 68-63. After Cal Lutheran was forced to foul and Chapman made two free-throws, Jacoby buried a three with 28 seconds left, making the score 67-60. CLU would call a timeout then foul but Chapman would only make one of two free-throws. Following the miss, Cal Lutheran lost valuable seconds when it couldn't connect on its first two shots during its possession but Salottolo would make a jumper with on the third try 11 seconds left and made the score 71-68.
CLU then fouled Chapman on the inbounds pass, sending Andrea Villanueva to the free-throw line. Needing the Panthers to miss both free-throws to keep it a one-possession game, Villanueva had her first attempt rim out but made the second for the back-breaking and final point of the game.
With the win, Chapman advances to the SCIAC Post Season Tournament Championship game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, who was a 76-72 overtime winner over Redlands earlier in the evening.
The Regals led by Jacoby and Salottolo who each finished with 20 points. Stone was second with nine points to go along with six rebounds.
Cal Lutheran (13-13 overall) winners of the past two SCIAC Post Season Tournament Championships, sees its conference post season winning streak snapped at four. After entering the New Year three games under .500, CLU closed out the season with a 9-6 record including a six-game winning-streak along the way.
Box Score: CU 72 CLU 68
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