Women's Basketball March 05, 2009 CSU Bakersfield Athletic Communications

?Runners Dominant on Senior Night; Take Down Pacific 85-70

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. ? The CSUB women's basketball team held off a second half rally by the University of the Pacific to win, 85?70, on Senior Night in the Icardo Center on Thursday evening. CSUB finishes its regular season with a 19-10 record including a 9-2 mark against Big West opponents. Pacific, who has already wrapped up the number four seed in the upcoming Big West Tournament, drops to an even 14-14.

Playing in her final contest, senior Krista Arase (Monterey Park/Keppel HS) scored her 1,000th career point with a three pointer early in the first half. She is now one of six Roadrunner players all-time to reach this milestone. She would go on to hit a career-best five three pointers to finish with 19 points. Junior Katie Williams (Las Vegas/Reedley College) led the ?Runners with 21 points. She finishes the season on a 17-game double-digit scoring streak. Classmate Phynique Allen (San Diego/Eastern Washington) added 19 points, shooting a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. Senior Christine Kepenekian (Burbank HS) scored nine points and tied for the game-high with nine rebounds. Senior Morgan Saso (Bakersfield/Univ. of New Mexico) scored four points and blocked two shots. Nikhol West (Bakersfield HS) grabbed three rebounds and had one steal in nine minutes of action in her final game.

CSUB shot 44.1 percent (30-for-68) from the field and forced a season-best 33 turnovers with 19 steals. Pacific made 29 of its 57 field goal attempts (50.9 percent) and outrebounded the ?Runners, 42-26. This is the first time CSUB has allowed an opponent to shoot over 50 percent and still win. Pacific's Amber Simmons had team-highs with 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots. She also turned the ball over seven times against the Roadrunner pressure defense.

With the game tied at 9-9, Williams hit two three pointers on back-to-back trips to give the ?Runners a 15-9 lead at the first media timeout. Out of the break, Arase nailed her first triple of the game, extending the advantage to nine points, 18-9. With the offense firing on one end, the defense stepped up on the other, forcing 10 Tiger turnovers in the first eight minutes of the contest.

CSUB would lead 43-13 at the break. Despite forcing 20 Pacific turnovers with 10 steals, the Tigers stayed in the game by making the shots they were able to get them off over the Roadrunner defense, hitting 14 of the 23 (60.9%) from the field. Williams and Arase both had nine points to lead CSUB at the break.

Pacific would cut the Roadrunner advantage all the way down to three twice early in the second half. CSUB would respond the second time with a quick 8-0 run to bring the lead back out to double digits.

Later in the half, Simmons hit a layup off a CSUB turnover to bring the lead back to nine, 74-65. But Arase would answer right back with another three pointer followed by a Saso layup and a couple free throws by Allen to secure the win for CSUB. Allen would finish the game with a tough, fall away jumper with the shot clock winding down.

This concludes the 2009 CSUB women's basketball regular season.

CSU BAKERSFIELD 85, PACIFIC 70
PACIFIC (14-14)
Simmons 8-12 0-1 16; Fath 6-10 0-0 14; Young 5-12 0-0 12; VanHollebeke 3-5 0-0 9; Head 3-7 0-0 6; Dawkins 2-2 2-2 6; Dana 1-4 0-0 3; Price 1-3 1-1 3; Swanson 0-0 1-2 1; Tiernan 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-57 4-6 70.

CSU BAKERSFIELD (19-10)
Williams 8-16 2-4 21; Allen 5-10 8-8 19; Arase 7-10 0-0 19; Kepenekian 4-13 1-1 9; Belt 2-5 4-4 9; Leon 2-5 0-0 4; Saso 2-4 0-0 4; Carter 0-0 0-0 0; West 0-1 0-0 0; Smith 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 30-68 15-17 85.

PACIFIC....................... 31 39 - 70
CSU Bakersfield............... 43 42 - 85

3-point goals--PACIFIC 8-17 (VanHollebeke 3-5; Fath 2-4; Young 2-3; Dana 1-3; Tiernan 0-2), CSU Bakersfield 10-21 (Arase5-7; Williams 3-8; Allen 1-2; Belt 1-2; Leon 0-1; Kepenekian 0-1). A-652

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Players Mentioned

#24 Phynique Allen: G; 5' 7"; Junior

#25 Krista Arase: G; 5' 6"; Senior

#23 Christine Kepenekian: G; 5' 7"; Senior

#22 Katie Williams: G; 5' 9"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#24 Phynique Allen
: 5' 7"; Junior
: G

#25 Krista Arase
: 5' 6"; Senior
: G

#23 Christine Kepenekian
: 5' 7"; Senior
: G

#22 Katie Williams
: 5' 9"; Junior
: G

California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

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?Runners Dominant on Senior Night; Take Down Pacific 85-70

Players Mentioned

#24 Phynique Allen

#25 Krista Arase

#23 Christine Kepenekian

#22 Katie Williams

Players Mentioned

#24 Phynique Allen

#25 Krista Arase

#23 Christine Kepenekian

#22 Katie Williams