ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's basketball team clinched the No. 5 seed in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament with Saturday's win over Caltech. The Panthers head to No. 4 Redlands on Tuesday for the SCIAC Postseason Tournament First Round game.
The Panthers are back in the SCIAC Tournament for the second year in a row but are playing in the First Round game for the first time since the tournament expanded. Here are five things to know before the tournament tips off Tuesday night in Redlands:
No. 1 – Playing their best ball
Chapman enters the tournament on a five-game winning streak – its longest winning streak of the season. The streak includes a comeback win in a non-conference game over UC Santa Cruz and three crucial SCIAC road wins. The Panthers needed every one of the four SCIAC wins down the stretch to surpass Occidental for the fifth and final spot against in the tournament. During the streak, Chapman has scored 70-plus points twice and more than 60 points four times. Conversely, Chapman held two opponents to less than 50 points with the five teams averaging just 56.8 points per game against.
No. 2 – Against the tourney field
Chapman comes in at 3-5 against the top-4 four teams in the SCIAC standings. The Panthers defeated third-seeded Pomona-Pitzer twice in the regular season and split with top-seeded Cal Lutheran. Chapman lost both to second-seeded CMS and Tuesday's opponent Redlands.
No. 3 – Battling on the road
The Panthers started the season 1-5 in true road games but have found the winning recipe with wins in their last three road games of the year. Their early season 75-57 loss at Redlands was the first true road game of the season. The 18-point defeat was the second-largest deficit of the season. However, Chapman was able to turn its road woes into strength down the stretch with three consecutive road wins to end the regular season, including crucial wins at Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental.
No. 4 - Woods and Nakaji heating up down the stretch
Layla Woods ended the regular season with 20-point games in three of the last four. She had just two 20-point games prior to Feb. 11 but scored 24 against UC Santa Cruz before scoring 22 at Oxy and Caltech to end the year. She had a double-double with 11 rebounds at Oxy. She is averaging 14.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, just a hair below last year's All-SCIAC numbers.
Maile Nakaji scored in double digits in eight of the last nine games and scored at least 20 points four times to lead the Panthers offensively down the stretch. She hit multiple games in eight games in a row before making only one at Caltech on Saturday. She was also named the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week for the final week of the season after getting five steals in the win at Oxy.
No. 5 – Carol Jue going for win No. 400
With the five-game win streak to end the season, the Panthers improved to 16-9 and moved head coach Carol Jue's career record to 399-206. The winningest coach in Chapman history has spent 23 of her 24 seasons as a Head Coach at Chapman. She is also the winningest active head coach in the SCIAC – exactly 100 wins ahead of Redlands' head coach Rich Murphy. Murphy's next win will be his 300th career victory.
