California Lutheran University women’s basketball hosted and won their first game of the season against Ottawa University Arizona on Friday, Nov. 15.
The Regals started the first quarter with a 20-16 lead. Despite having a lower shooting percentage than the Spirit in the second quarter, the Regals outscored the Spirit 13-7.
Despite being outscored in both quarters of the second half, the Regals came out on top in the end. While there was a dip in field goals and 3-point shooting, the Regals’ defense was able to prevent Ottawa from taking the lead.
In the fourth quarter, the two teams tied twice. With just over a minute and a half on the clock, the score was 60-60, until sophomore guard Kaiya Mack scored a two-point shot with just 55 seconds left to go.
Afterward, sophomore forward Alline Ballard ended the game with two free throws. The Regals made all eight free throws in the last quarter.
Head Coach Kelli DiMuro said the game felt nerve-wracking, as it was not only the first game of the season but also her first time coaching in six months. She said the team has encountered practices similar to the performance of the last quarter.
“We have everything implemented and we had [the] last second shot. So we’ve run scenarios quite a bit in practice so that probably wasn’t a great job because they out-rebounded us three times in the end. But we stopped them on offense so that’s all that matters,” DiMuro said.
DiMuro said the team performed well, but that there is room for improvement.
“I thought we had spurts of greatness and then we had spurts where we just could not get the ball in the hoop. I thought we needed to run our stuff and execute a little bit better, but overall I think they performed pretty well,” DiMuro said.
Junior guard Janna Holley said the game plan coming into the match was to have a sturdy defense.
“Stop them in transition, to grab rebounds, just play solid defense overall and play together as a team,” Holley said.
Senior forward Alexa Greenwood said the significance of the game was that it would determine the energy for the rest of the season.
“I think that it really sets the energy for the entire season. So it’s important for us to come out as a team and set the tone for the rest of the season. I think we all did a really good job in keeping that energy the whole game,” Greenwood said.
Greenwood and Holley scored 14 points, respectively, throughout the game. Holley said her greatest achievement was not giving up.
“I did get fouled a lot driving through the basket. I did get blocked, but I was like, ‘I don’t care … I’m still going to get these fouls.’ So I would say just drive to the basket,” Holley said.
The Regals will host the University of California, Santa Cruz next on Nov. 22 at 6 p.m., the day after their next exhibition game at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
DiMuro said it will be another tough game where the team will have to go back to the drawing board and execute defensively and offensively. Team bonding is another thing the Regals will be working on, DiMuro said.
“We’re getting used to each other and the chemistry of the team, so that’s what we need to work on as well,” DiMuro said.
Greenwood said while there is room for improvement, she is proud of her teammates.
“There’s always things to work on, but I’m really proud of my team. Couldn’t do it without them,” Greenwood said.
