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Box Score

CSU Bakersfield CSUB 7-22,3-17 Big West

CSUN CSUN 7-24,6-14 Big West

CSU Bakersfield CSUB

7-22,3-17 Big West

Final

Mar. 07, 2023

CSUN CSUN

7-24,6-14 Big West

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
CSU Bakersfield CSUB	12	17	9	17	55
CSUN CSUN	14	16	12	10	52

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | March 07, 2023 | Written by James Tsitakis-Cecil

CSUB Pull Off Upset in Thrilling 1st Round Comeback Win

Next Game:

vs. UC Irvine

3/8/2023 | 12:00 P.M.

ESPN+

Next Game

Full Schedule

Mar. 08 (Wed) / 12:00 P.M.

vs. UC Irvine

History

Recap
Roster

HENDERSON, Nev. – In an amazing, thriller of a game, the Cal State Bakersfield women's basketball team downed CSUN for the second straight season in the first round of the Hercules Tires Big West Championship presented by The Hawaiian Islands. Pulling off an amazing fourth quarter comeback, the Roadrunners battled through the entire game to advance, playing No. 1 UC Irvine in the next leg of the tournament.

Notables

CSUB worked its offense through a few primary scorers. Hennie van Schaik, Taylor Caldwell, and Sophia Tougas all found a way to put up double-digit point efforts even before the final quarter. 52-of-55 points were scored by the trio.
CSUN and CSUB played in this exact same scenario during last season's Big West Championship, down to the seeding and location. Hennie van Schaik starred in this one, resetting her career high of 19 points, also set against CSUN earlier in the year.
Last year, the `Runners took the spoils, advancing past the Matadors to face No. 1 Hawai'i. This time, CSUB did not need overtime and defeated CSUN with some last-second makes. Garrisen Freeman, just nominated to the All-Freshman team, put up a career high 9 boards.
Despite bleak moments where CSUN took large leads, CSUB never backed down and came back to score every time. Bakersfield showed its grit to make the comeback thanks to the star `Runner scorers and an overall team effort.

Quotes from Head Coach Greg McCall

"We somehow, some way, figured it out in this tournament. We continued to advance. Man, I'll take it all day long. But I'm just so proud of my team and the accomplishments that they made."
On Freeman: "The things that she does out there for us, it just goes unnoticed. It's never gonna show up in the stat book. That's why she was on the all-freshman team."
On Caldwell: "A lot of times, she was just forcing her way to what she had to get to. Even though they weren't making the calls, she was willing her way. And that's what it's all about, when you really want something bad enough."
On UC Irvine: "I think we got some things figured out, some things we're gonna do differently ... They're a tough team, they won the conference, but right now it doesn't matter where you are in the records."

Next on the Schedule

Big West Championship basketball continues in the next round!
UC Irvine, Wednesday, Mar. 8, 2023, 12:00 p.m.
Full schedule available at GoRunners.com/WBB
CSUB Season Tickets and Single-Game Tickets available at GoRunners.com/Tickets

First Half

CSUN found its way onto the board first with free throw makes a few minutes into the game. However, CSUB found a way to quickly respond with Taylor Caldwell work in the paint.
On the back of All-Conference team honoree Tess Amundsen, CSUN began to pull away midway through the first, but CSUB cut the deficit to just two points at the break.
Taylor Caldwell, the most experienced `Runner, spearheaded the CSUB attack that worked hard to come back into the first quarter, with 6 points, followed up by Sophia Tougas' 5 points.
CSUB started the second quarter hot, putting on a quick run that saw the `Runners take their first lead of the game thanks to another Sophia Tougas corner three.
The `Runners shot consistently to give themselves the momentum, winning the second quarter. CSUN was up 30-29 at the half, but Bakersfield was surging.

Second Half

An 8-2 run started the second half for CSUN, giving the Matadors their largest lead of the game. CSUN sported a balanced offense throughout its lineup, but CSUB had just four players on the scoreboard.
After a timeout to regroup and push back against CSUN's attack, Bakersfield was able to close the gap through most of the third quarter, leaving CSUN up by just two possessions at the break.
The fourth quarter began sluggishly, with both teams failing to score as the fouls racked up on both sides of the court. However, as
As CSUB started to close the gap at the end of the fourth quarter, CSUN got into foul trouble and put the `Runners into the bonus. Bakersfield came within one point with a minute left.
With a last-minute surge, the `Runners found a way to complete the comeback and beat CSUN for the second straight year, in nearly the same scenario. Van Schaik iced the game with a layup after a missed free throw after Grace Hunter blocked CSUN's go-ahead shot on the other end.

Preview for UC Irvine on Wednesday, March 7

UC Irvine (24-5, 16-2 Big West) is led by seventh-year head coach Tamara Inoue.
In both of the games against UC Irvine this season, the `Runners found a way to contain the Anteaters for most of the game and nearly pull off the upset both times.
UC Irvine's fourth quarter performances have been the difference against CSUB this season. In the game that UCI clinched the title, CSUB managed to take the lead at one point with a solid 2nd and 3rd quarter effort. Of all the top teams CSUB played this year, UCI was one that the `Runners played very close in both games.
Without needing to participate in the play-in, being that they clinched the No. 1 seed, UCI will be facing a CSUB team that has beaten the odds and it hungry for another upset.
Greg McCall has enjoyed strings of success against UCI before, despite the Anteaters on a five-game winning streak in the all-time series. He just has to rediscover that secret to taking down one of the conference's best teams.