EDINBURG, Texas ? Shooting woes plagued the CSUB women's basketball team Saturday night in the NCAA Division I National Independent Championship title game as the Roadrunners closed out the 2008 season with a 64-54 loss to Florida Gulf Coast.
Bakersfield ended its first full Division I season with a 12-17 overall record while Florida Gulf Coast, which went 3-0 in the tournament, improved to 21-8 overall.
The ?Runners came out of the gates strong, building a 16-9 lead on a Tiffany Belt layup at the 9:07 mark. But CSUB's offense went cold for nearly five minutes as the Eagles went on a 15-0 run. A layup by Krista Arase broke the streak at the 4:10 mark, cutting the ?Runner deficit to 24-18.
After trailing 33-20 at the half, and later 40-22 early in the second, the ?Runners found some rhythm, slowly chipping away at the Eagle lead. With 9:15 remaining, a baseline three by Arase cut th score to single digits, 47-40. The hope was short lived, however, as a layup by Tournament Most Valuable Player Delia De La Torre and a long three by Chelsea Dermyer put Florida Gulf Coast back up by 12.
The ?Runners refused to quit, battling to cut at the lead until the final buzzer sounded, but would get no closer than the final 10-point spread.
With the weekend's previous hot hands of all-tournament selection Kelley Tarver and senior Naomi Johnson held to six and eight points, respectively, Arase stepped up, hitting 6-for-15 from the field, including four triples, for 20 points. No other ?Runner reached double figures as the team shot 39 percent from the field and 43 percent from three (6-14).
Florida Gulf Coast 64, CSU Bakersfield 54
CSU BAKERSFIELD (12-17) -- ARASE 6-15 4-4 20; JOHNSON 3-7 2-2 8; BELT 3-5 0-0 7; TARVER 2-9 2-3 6; KEPENEKIAN 1-6 4-5 6; LEON 2-2 0-0 5; STRIBLING 1-2 0-0 2; WEST 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-46 12-14 54.
FLORIDA GULF COAST (21-8) -- DE LA TORRE 6-12 6-8 20; HAEGELE 3-9 4-7 12; DERMYER 3-6 2-2 10; MURPHY 2-4 4-5 9; PIERCE 3-10 0-0 8; MCNALLY 2-7 1-2 5; HERMAN 0-1 0-0 0; THEIL 0-0 0-0 0; ZABEL 0-0 0-0 0; MCKENZIE 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-49 17-24 64.
Halftime: FGC 33-20. 3-point goals--CSUB 6-14 (BELT 1-2; ARASE 4-8; LEON 1-3), FGC 9-30 (PIERCE 2-8; HAEGELE 2-8; DERMYER 2-4; DE LA TORRE 2-5; MURPHY 1-3). Fouled out--CSUB-none, FGC-none. Rebounds--CSUB 27 (KEPENEKIAN 6), FGC 35 (DE LA TORRE 13). Assists--CSUB 10 (TARVER 3), FGC 16 (DERYMER 7). Total fouls--CSUB 18, FGC 15. Technical fouls--CSUB-None, FGC-None. A-89.
