WBB: Lancers take round 1 in series with TBirds, and grab sole possession of first place in process
Grace Schmidt and Emma Johansson did the heavy lifting in regulation before Lauren Olsen came alive in overtime to keep CBU undefeated in WAC play...
If you wanted an early preview of WACVegas and a possible tournament championship game on March 14, Saturday’s CBU at Southern Utah women’s basketball game from Cedar City fit the bill.
CBU (11-7, 5-0 WAC) freshman Lauren Olsen hit a floater in the lane as time expired to rally the Lancers back from a five point deficit with five minutes left to force overtime. She then added nine of CBU’s 13 overtime points to push the Lancers to a 82-77 win at Cedar City’s America First Events Center.
Schmidt set a new season-high with 23 points to go with five rebounds while Johansson added a career-high 21 points, six rebounds, and a pair of blocks as the front court tandem did the heavy lifting in regulation.
“They were really good today and needed to be against a good Southern Utah team,” Lancers coach Jarrod Olson said of his front court in a postgame TV interview.
CBU led 15-12 with 2:25 left in the first quarter after a Reyleigh Hess layup. Brooklyn Fely scored five of the last seven TBirds point to cut the Lancer lead to a point with a quarter gone.
Denver Anderson’s 3-pointer with 7:13 left to the half put Southern Utah (11-5, 3-1 WAC) ahead 24-23. The TBirds closed on a 10-4 run to take a seven point lead to intermission.
CBU came out of the break on an 11-0 run covering 2:46 to take a 38-34 lead with 7:14 left in the third. Johansson had back-to-back 3-pointers to cap the run while Schmidt scored the first five. Khloe Lemon hit a 3-pointer with 3:39 left to give the Lancers their largest lead of regulation at 45-38. They’d take a six point lead to the final ten minutes after a Filipa Barros layup with seven seconds left.
“We were trying anything to stop their post players and I was pretty disappointed with how we defended them…,” TBirds head coach Tracy Mason said. “
Sierra Chambers scored five straight Southern Utah points to give the TBirds a 66-64 lead with 2:26 left in regulation. Barros and Kortney Doman traded 3-pointers within 11 seconds of each other as Southern Utah kept a 69-67 lead. Out of a called timeout by Jarrod Olson, Olsen missed a good look at a corner 3-pointer but Schmidt was there for the offensive rebound as Southern Utah called timeout after a held ball.
Olsen turned the corner and put up a floater off a Schmidt assist that video review confirmed was good to tie the score at 69.
“The plan was to foul twice in that last sequence and we just didn’t execute but she (Olsen) made a very tough shot and we weren’t in a great place to defend,” Mason said in her postgame press conference.
Devyn Kiernan’s jumper with 2:42 left in overtime pulled Southern Utah even for the final time at 73.
CBU scored the next eight points on four Olsen free throws and a layup along with a Johansson jumper. Kiernan’s 3-pointer with 22 seconds left cut the lead to five but that’s as close as Southern Utah got.
Sierra Chambers had 20 points and a career-high nine assists to lead Southern Utah while Ava Uhrich added 19 points with 17 rebounds. Kortney Doman chipped in 11 points with seven rebounds.
This is the third straight game in the series that has been decided by five points or less.
“Every game we’ve played against Southern Utah recently has been wild and today was no exception.” Olson added about just how close the last trio of games against Southern Utah have been. “Tracy always finds a way to get the most out of what she has and it’s no surprise our last few games have been this way.”
The Lancers return home to host Abilene Christian on Thursday in their annual Education Day game with an 11 A.M. local time tipoff before taking their first bye next Saturday. Meanwhile, the TBirds embark on a Texas two-step…visiting Tarleton State on Thursday and ACU on Saturday in a game that might eliminate one team from regular season title contention.