ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's basketball team defeated Occidental College 74-62 to earn a share of the SCIAC Championship regular season title at the Hutton Sports Center on Tuesday night. Senior Lauren Sato capped off senior night with 26 points to propel the Panthers into the SCIAC Tournament.

Chapman started the game on an 8-0 and never relinquished the lead to claim a share of the title. Sato poured in 18 of her game-high 26 points in the second half. Sophomore Jaryn Fajardo was just shy of a triple-double with 13 rebounds, nine points and seven assists. Sophomore Katelyn Serizawa narrowly missed a double-double as well with 12 points and nine rebounds.

Senior Megan Charles scored nine points off the bench while freshman Ryann Garcia added in eight points and six rebounds.

The Panthers led 16-11 after the first quarter and then shot 64.7 percent in the second quarter to build a commanding 42-23 lead at the half. Occidental was able to cut into the lead in the second half but never came closer than nine points.

The win claimed a share of the SCIAC title for the second time in Chapman's short history in the conference. The Panthers end the SCIAC regular season tied at 13-3 with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Chapman will be the No. 2 seed in this weekend's SCIAC Tournament based on the SCIAC's tiebreaking procedures.

Chapman hosts third-seeded Cal Lutheran on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Hutton Sports Center with the winner taking on the winner of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Redlands. 

by Raquel Rinauro
Sports Information Assistant

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