THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Redlands women's basketball team (19-7) dropped their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament Semi-Final to California Lutheran University (CLU) 63-55 Thursday evening as the Bulldogs were never able to get consistent offensive flow, shooting only 27.3 percent from the field.
A minute and a half into the game the Bulldogs' defensive unit had forced a missed three-pointer, which turned into a fastbreak three for Andrea Perkins (Seal Beach, CA) with Teagan McIlroy (Phoenix, AZ) getting the assist after Leila Hosn (Seattle, WA) grabbed the defensive rebound.
Hosn had another defensive board, which led to a Colbi Zorich (Woodinville, WA) layup in the paint before AJ Wick (Henderson, NV) got her first basket at the 5:53 mark to push Redlands ahead by five, 8-3.
Following a pair of Wick free throws, the Regals quickly got down the floor before the Bulldogs were set on defense and were able to get to the rim for the first of eight unanswered points.
Wick, though, scored the final four points of the first to tie the game after ten minutes. That 4-0 run turned into nine unanswered after two minutes of play in the second as McIlroy had five quick points of her own to make it 19-14 Redlands.
The Bulldogs maintained their lead until the 4:06 mark when the Regals made a three to tie the game at 21-21. That three helped spark CLU to a 9-0 run. McIlroy, however, ended the half with a second triple that cut the deficit to only three, 27-24, at the break.
Two six-point deficits in the third were quickly erased by the Bulldogs. The second was eliminated by Wick who went on a personal 6-0 stretch before Hosn made a free throw to reclaim the U of R lead, 35-34, with 4:58 to go in the third.
That lead, though, lasted less than a minute and CLU held the lead for the remainder of the quarter.
Four Wick free throws and a McIlroy layup brought the Bulldogs to within one, 48-47, with only 4:31 to play in the fourth. Despite the strong push, the Regals would be too much to overcome as they scored 15 of the final 23 to eliminate the Bulldogs.
Wick had a team-high 20 points and a joint game-high 12 rebounds. She went 10-of-13 from the line but the rest of the team combined for a 5-for-11 mark, which hurt the Bulldogs as they got eight more free throw attempts and lost by eight. McIlroy performed admirably in her first road postseason game, scoring 16 points, dishing out six assists, and grabbing four rebounds.
Notably this season the Bulldogs had two new 1,000-point scorers with Zorich and Wick reaching the milestone. Head coach Rich Murphy also won his 300th career game during Redlands' SCIAC Tournament First Round win over Chapman University earlier this week.
Team wise their 78.2 percent mark from the free throw line is the new program single-season record. They also set the program's new highest scoring average at 73.0 points per game.
Redlands graduates multiple key contributors, but they return reigning SCIAC Newcomer of the Year McIlroy and two-time 1st Team All-SCIAC selection Wick.
