California Baptist Advances to Third Round of WNIT
FORT WORTH, Texas – California Baptist is moving on to the third round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament as they eliminated San Francisco, 90-82.
The opening quarter was extremely competitive as the lead shifted sides four times before the Lancers put together an 11-2 run to finish the quarter up a pair. The second quarter belonged to CBU as they outscored San Francisco 26-21 to head into halftime with a seven-point advantage. The Lancers were led in the first half by 13 points from Britney Thomas.
Despite losing senior leader Ane Olaeta to injury in the final seconds of the first half, California Baptist came out strong in the third quarter. Thomas continued to dominate as she scored six of the Lancers' first 10 points in the second half. Eventually, CBU pushed its lead to 15 points and took a nine-point lead into the final period. The Dons came charging back in the fourth quarter as they cut the lead to six with just over seven minutes remaining in the fourth. A huge triple from Caitlyn Harper with two minutes remaining would prove to be the dagger as the Lancers went back up by double digits and earned their second win in as many nights.
For the second game in a row, Thomas and Harper carried the load for the Lancers. Thomas was nearly unstoppable as she finished with 26 points on a perfect 10-for10 from the field. Harper added 23 points of her own to go along with seven rebounds. Taylor Wu also had a strong outing as she pitched in with 12 points and four assists.
The Rice Owls will await California Baptist in the third round of the WNIT after they took down Arizona State and Fresno State in the first two rounds. Rice is led by 6-foot-9 senior Nancy Mulkey who averages 16.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. The Lancers will also have to deal with Lauren Schwartz who posts 12.1 points per game.
The regional final against the Owls is set for Monday, March 22 at 7 p.m. CT in Fort Worth, Texas. All games will be available on FloHoops.