RIVERSIDE, Calif. – For 28 minutes, the Chaminade University women's basketball team was locked in a battle with California Baptist.
But two big CBU runs in the second and fourth quarters proved too much for the Silverswords as they fell, 89-70, in a Pacific West Conference game Thursday at Van Dyne Gym.
Chaminade, which lost its fourth straight, fell to 3-7 overall and 3-3 in the PacWest. California Baptist, the fourth-ranked team in the nation and the preseason favorite to win the conference, improved to 12-1 and 4-1.
Junior forward
Lilia Maio led the Silverswords with 23 points, giving her back-to-back 20-point games for the second time in her career. The Nanakuli, O'ahu native also pulled down seven rebounds.
Carissa McBride set career-highs 14 points and nine boards while hitting both 3-point tries in defeat.
Kristle Henry had 12 points and four assists while
Taylor Babbitt had eight points and four rebounds.
CBU was led by its two All-PacWest Preseason Team selections, Cassidy Mihalko and Kamille Diaz. Mihalko had 28 points, hitting 13 of her 16 shots from the floor while Diaz poured in 24, going 5-for-7 from long range.
The 'Swords got off to a quick start as shots from Maio and
Shana Kawakami, followed by a McBride 3-pointer gave them a 7-2 lead less than two minutes in. Chaminade's first quarter shots continued to fall as it held off the Lancers for a 26-22 lead after the game's first 10 minutes.
CBU charged back and took its first lead of the game at 32-30 on Morgan Frerer's layup but Chaminade responded on its next possession on Babbitt's corner triple with 5:24 left in the second quarter. But the Silverswords went cold from the floor from there as they were out-scored 17-4 the rest of the way, giving the Lancers a 49-37 lead at halftime.
Maio had 14 points at the break for Chaminade while Mihalko and Diaz each had 15 for California Baptist.
Henry sparked the 'Swords immediately out of the gate to start the third quarter with a layup and 3-pointer followed by Kawakami's driving layup and Maio's baseline jumper. The 9-0 run put Chaminade right back in the game whic narrowed the deficit to 49-46. But the Lancers got consecutive 3-pointers from Mihalko, Diaz and Erin Asher to build their lead back to 10 with 1:22 left in the quarter.
Chaminade managed to whittle the deficit to 73-64 on free throws from McBride and Henry with 6:45 left in the game but California Baptist went on a 13-2 run to put the contest out of reach.
Despite CBU hitting 53 percent of its shots, the 'Swords managed to hang around, shooting at a 43.1 percent clip. California Baptist, the conference leaders in 3-point shooting at nearly 10 made per game, hit its season average but Chaminade managed to counter with eight with McBride hitting both her tries while Babbitt also hit a pair of triples.
The 'Swords were also able to keep up in the rebounding department, being out-rebounded by only two, 36-34.
The 70 points is the most scored by Chaminade in the four games it has played at Van Dyne Gym since the series began in 2012. The 19-point margin of defeat is also the fewest at CBU after being out-scored 205-85 in their first two games in Riverside.
The Silverswords conclude the road trip Saturday at Azusa Pacific.
