Riverside, Calif. - The Women's Basketball team snapped their competition drought of more than one year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, when they hosted the University of Redlands (1-0), Saturday night. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs prevailed, 79-60.
The Golden Eagles struck first when Kayla De Leon hit a three off a quick pass from Luiza Rodrigues. The Bulldogs answered back with a three of their own, but the Golden Eagles didn't waiver, continuing to attack and creating a small lead. Unfortunately, the lead didn't last long, as the Bulldogs tied it up with just under three minutes left in the quarter and created a momentum shift, which resulted in a six point deficit for the Golden Eagles, as the quarter came to an end (9-15).
In the second quarter, the Bulldogs scored first and continued their lead, ending the half up by 10.
The Golden Eagles came out with renewed energy after halftime and made the first two field goals of the third quarter (Sydney Wallner 3-pointer, Luiza Rodrigues added two points), bringing the score within eight of the Bulldogs (23-31). But it would be short lived, as the Bulldogs continued to push their lead ending the quarter 56-41.
Down by 15 at the start of the fourth and final quarter, the Golden Eagles continued to claw their way back with heart and hustle, cutting the lead to 12 points with three minutes to play, but it wasn't meant to be, as the Bulldogs came out on top, 79-60.
Sydney Wallner had 16 points and seven assists on the night, with De'Brianna Hampton adding 10 points of her own.
Head Coach Kevin Mitchell said, "The University of Redlands played a very disciplined game and shot the ball extremely well from the field...unfortunately, we lost sight of their shooters and let them get going. For us, we settled for too many jump shots early in the shot clock and didn't convert on defensive stops...This is our first game, so we knew it was going to be a bit rough. We had good production from Sydney Wallner and De'Brianna Hampton. We will make our adjustments and clean things up this week as we prepare for Hope."
Next up, the Golden Eagles host Hope International University on March 13th.
