CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Cal Lutheran women's basketball season came to an end on Saturday night after a 60-43 loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament Championship at the Linde Activites Center.
In the third meeting between these two teams this season, the Regals shot just 29.8 percent from the field (14-for-47) and 23.1 percent from three-point range (3-for-13). In all three games against the Athenas this year, CLU has been held under 30 percent shooting.
The Regals got off to a slow start making two of their first 10 attempts, allowing CMS to open a 14-4 lead.
Kimberly Scamman led the Athenas offense early on, scoring 10 of her game-high 14 points in the first half and widened the CMS lead to 20 points.
Katy Lindor knocked down a three-pointer with thirty seconds left in the half to cut the Athenas halftime lead down to 33-16. CMS finished the opening period 14-for-24 from the field for a 58.3 shooting percentage.
In the second half, the Regals still found themselves trailing 43-24 with 14:27 to go, but over the next five minutes CLU began to mount a comeback. Trianna Owen drained two three-pointers in a matter of minutes to spark a 12-0 run and a Lindor jump shot followed by a Taylor Messick jumper cut the CMS lead to just seven points at 43-36 with 9:27 remaining.
Unfortunately for the Violet and Gold, that was as close as they would get after CMS responded with a 15-3 run and hit back-to-back three-pointers to take a 19-point lead which they would hold onto for the remainder of the game.
For the second straight game against CMS, no Regals scored in double figures and leading scorers Chelsea Jacoby and Jessica Salottolo were held to just 11 points combined. Owen and Messick led the Regals with nine points each.
Cal Lutheran finishes the season 19-8 and will return four starters for next season but will lose senior guard Natalie Stone to graduation.
Box Score: CMS 60, CLU 43
CLU Twitter: https://twitter.com/clusports
Follow Coach Goldblatt: @L_Goldblatt
CLU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clusports
CLU Instagram: http://instagram.com/clusports#
