Riverside, Calif. - The women's basketball team won their third straight game by defeating Simpson University, 65-57, in Saturday night's Cal Pac match-up. The win improved the Golden Eagles record to 4-3 in Cal Pac play (8-14 overall). The victory also vaulted La Sierra into third place in the conference standings, a game ahead of the University of California-Merced.
After connecting on their first field goal attempt of the game, the Golden Eagles were outscored 9-0, playing catch-up right out of the gates. Playing relatively even over the next 10 minutes, La Sierra caught the Red Hawks at 15-15 with just under eight minutes to play in the opening half.
After the two teams exchanged a pair of 7-0 runs, it was the Golden Eagles who held Simpson scoreless for the final 5:53 of the first half and took a slight 24-22 lead into the halftime break.
With La Sierra maintaining a 31-29 advantage, with 16:30 to play, the Golden Eagles used a 17-8 run, pushing their lead to 48-37 midway through the second half.
The Red Hawks answered back over the next three minutes with a 9-0 run, trimming the lead to 48-46 with 6:43 remaining in the game.
The Golden Eagles pushed the lead back to double digits with the help of a 10-2 run. Simpson's Katie Lenik completed a three-point play, cutting La Sierra's lead to 58-53 with 1:21 to play. That proved to be as close as the Red Hawks would get, as the Golden Eagles connected on enough free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
La Sierra had four players who scored in double figures, led by Tina Fantroy who tallied 17 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Kailee Maeda finished with a career-high 13 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists. Kristin Brummett and Vyvy Tran each added 10 points, in the win.
Senior guard Faith Fantroy had a game-high's in assists (7) and rebounds (13).
Prior to the game, the Golden Eagles recognized the three seniors on this year's roster (Faith Fantroy, Tina Fantroy, and Destiny Melton).
The team has three road contests remaining on their regular season schedule. Next up for La Sierra will be a trip to the University of California – Merced this next Saturday night.
