THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team (10-10, 6-6 SCIAC) battled their way back Saturday afternoon to take a two-point lead early in the fourth quarter against California Lutheran University but they would only score one more point the rest of the way as the Regals would come away with the 76-50 win inside Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play.
The game offensively for the Bulldogs would belong to Kayden Sanders (Nipomo, CA) from the very start as Aliyah Anderson (Oceanside, CA) found her for a three only :34 seconds into the game.
Anderson then ended a long scoring drought of more than three minutes as she got into the paint on a fastbreak later converting on a pair of free throws to tie the game at seven.
Carly Hicks (Portland, OR) and Sanders got the lead for the Bulldogs for the first time since Sanders' first basket as they led 12-9 with 3:29 to play in the first. Hicks made a three off a Sanders assist and then Anderson found Sanders for a jumper.
The hot shooting continued when Anderson assisted Hicks on her second three as the lead grew to six, 15-9, with 2:44 on the clock. The Regals, however, ended the quarter on an 11-1 run and took all the momentum into the second period.
That momentum would serve CLU well as they led by 13 as late as the 5:12 mark as they had scored 22 of the previous 25 points and made the six-point deficit a distant memory.
After allowing the Regals to finish strong in the second, UR clamped down defensively and held them to only two points over the final five minutes, while pulling within five, 35-30, at the half after Sanders made a layup with four seconds remaining.
The third quarter was much like the second as CLU led by seven multiple times, and it was not until the final 6:29 that Redlands found their groove as they went from down 41-34 to up 47-45 as the quarter ended. Six of the last eight points went to the Bulldogs as Hicks, Leaya Mckinney (Sedalia, CO), and Colbi Zorich (Kenmore, WA) would all finish.
Redlands allowed CLU to score the first points of the fourth quarter as they tied the game at 47-47 before Hicks made a jumper to put the Maroon and Grey back up 49-47 with 8:56 on the clock.
The Regals then reclaimed the lead at the 8:29 mark and from that point forward they would never relinquish it as the Bulldogs were held to only three fourth quarter points.
Sanders finished with a career-high 18 points (7-15 FG, 4-8 3FG) as she accounted for 36 percent of the Bulldog scoring. She also had four of their six made threes.
Redlands will stay on the road as they travel to Claremont for a match-up with the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas on Wednesday, February 7 beginning at 7:00 p.m.
