Cal Lutheran (19-5, 12-1) trailed the entire second half until Lauren Stroot grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to tie the game at 61-61 with 3:24 remaining. Trailing by two with 50 seconds to play the Regals took a timeout and set up a play that worked to perfection and found Mary Placido hitting a mid-range jump shot from the baseline off an assist from Alex Mallen. Redlands (13-11, 7-6) responded when Mara Block hit a game-tying field goal with 29 ticks left and deadlocked the game at 67-67. From there the stage was set for 4-foot-11-inch Shim to drive to her left into the key and sink a bank shot for the game-winner. Prior to the clutch basket Shim had gone cold shooting just 2-for-10, but made her third field goal when it counted most.
Trailing by three at the half the Regals came out with a heavy dose of Stroot on offense. After scoring only four points in the first half, the senior playing in her last home game poured in 24 second half points to lead the Cal Lutheran comeback. Sophomore Allison Neill played a game-high 35 minutes and grabbed 10 rebounds including six on the offensive end, which in turn led to 18-second chance points.
Redlands received 23 points from their leading scorer, Block, who shot 8-for-13 from the field.
This is the women basketball program’s seventh conference championship and comes with an automatic bid into NCAA postseason play where they will be appearing for the sixth time. The game marked the last for the two CLU seniors, Stroot and Mallen, who walked away clinching their second SCIAC championship of their careers.
Cal Lutheran winds up their regular season schedule on Feb. 23 at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 5:00 p.m. The team will then wait and see on Sunday when their first round opponent will be announced.