WBB: Lancers get defensive in season opening win over Highlanders
Bucher makes a successful return to DI with 22 points but Barros' game winner gives the Lancers a winning start to 2025-2026...
RIVERSIDE— You only get one chance to make a first impression.
Monday night, as the Crosstown Showdown between CBU and UC Riverside resumed after a four-year hiatus, that’s exactly what Lancer graduate guard Chance Bucher did on the Fowler Events Center floor.
Bucher led the Lancers with 22 points and four rebounds with a team-high 37 minutes played.
Filippa Barros, in her return to action after missing last year due to injury, hit the go-ahead basket with 35 seconds left along with a pair of clutch free throws as CBU defeated UC Riverside 56-53 to open the 2025-2026 season. She finished with 13 points, 18 rebounds, and six steals in 37 minutes of work, tying Bucher and Emma Johansson for the team high.
“It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest game to watch but it was competitive and physical and definitely showed us some things we need to work on,” CBU head coach Jarrod Olson said. “Chance hasn’t had a bunch of reps so far but comes to us with a lot of experience and made a lot of winning plays for us this evening. We needed every point and rebound we could get in this one against a really physical UC Riverside team.”
UC Riverside led 13-10 after a quarter as the Lancers were held to just 22.2 percent total field goal shooting without a 3-pointer.
Shawnee Nordstrom connected on CBU’s first 3-pointer of the night with 6:20 left in the second quarter to tie the game at 15. Bucher hit a pair of free throws with just under four minutes to the half that re-tied the game at 21. However, Makayla Minshall and Seneca Hackley hit consecutive 3-pointers within 35 seconds of each other to give UC Riverside the 29-25 lead at half.
Reigning WAC Freshman of the Year CeCe Legaspi hit a 3-pointer to give CBU a 36-35 lead with 4:57 left in the third off a Bucher assist. The teams were tied at 39 after three quarters.
Bucher hit a 3-pointer with 3:22 left to put CBU up by seven at 52-45. However, UC Riverside (picked to finish seventh in this year’s Big West poll) had an answer and tied the game at 52 off a Kaylani Polk 3-pointer with 1:23 left.
“We definitely missed our fair share of shots but we did the dirty work and found a way to win,” Bucher said. “We’re really working on the defensive end because we have a ton of firepower offensively but we know we have to be able to win this kind of game. I’m so excited to be back on the West Coast and in a spot where my folks will be able to see me play a bunch in my grad year and see us fight for that WAC title.”
With 35 seconds left Barros got the ball and scored out of a called timeout to put the Lancers up 54-52. Shelley Duchemin split a pair of free throws to cut the lead to one. UC Riverside played the foul game and Barros hit a pair of free throws before the Highlanders got two looks to force a tie that didn’t fall.
CBU, sixth in field goal percentage defense and seventh in 3-point percentage defense a season ago, held UC Riverside to 29.2 percent field goal shooting and 36 percent (9-25) from beyond the arc. The Lancers, behind a 20 rebound effort that tied a single-game Division I record from Emma Johansson and 18 rebounds from Barros, enjoyed a +13 total rebounding advantage.
Johansson, the WAC’s leading shot blocker a year ago, started 2025 with seven and narrowly missed a triple-double with eight points.
“It’s supposed to be fun when you play your neighbor and tonight was a win-win for those folks that support women’s basketball in the Inland Empire,” Olson added. “
The Lancers played without preseason all-WAC selection Khloe Lemon and Grace Schmidt on Monday.
CBU returns to action on Saturday at 2025 WNIT participant Pacific. Tip time is 1pm on ESPN+.