RIVERSIDE, Calif.  – Hawai'i Pacific University used a 16-0 run at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth to grab the lead on the way to its ninth straight win as the Sharks downed California Baptist 66-56 Monday evening at the new CBU Event Center.
 
The Sharks (13-2, 7-1) snapped a four-game losing streak to CBU and picked up their first win at CBU since Jan. 19, 2012. The defending PacWest Champion Lancers (8-9, 5-4) lost their second straight and third in the last four games.
 
 "I'm proud of how strong we played in the second half," said HPU head coach Reid Takatsuka. "We hung tough when they made a run at us and came away with a very big win."
 
Senior forward Jessi Reeves of Coffs Harbour, Australia/John Paul paced the Sharks with 20 points, her second 20-plus game of the year, to go with five rebounds and three steals.  Junior guard Samantha Lambrigtsen of Oregon, Ill., added 15 points with four boards. Freshman forward Alysha Marcucci of Melbourne, Australia/Marist-Sion posted eight points with a team eight seven boards, block and a steal.
 
Cal Baptist was led by Tori Mitchell who just missed a double-double with 29 points and nine rebounds, with two blocks and two steals. Georgia Dale added 11 points, while Lexy Ram grabbed 10 rebounds to go with five points.
 
HPU shot 37 percent from the floor (26-of-71), hitting 5-of-19 (26 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Sharks were 9-of-13 (69 percent) from the foul line. CBU hit just 16-of-48 shots from the floor (33 percent), including 5-of-20 (25 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Lancers went 19-of-25 (76 percent) from the charity stripe. CBU outrebounded the Sharks 46-37, but suffered 26 turnovers allowing HPU 20 points. HPU turned the ball over 12 times, giving CBU six points.
 
The Sharks and Lancers exchanged the lead six times in the first quarter, gaining the lead for the period on a pair of layups by Reeves. The Sharks built an eight-point lead before CBU scored the last three points of the first quarter that cut HPU's lead to 19-14.
 
HPU rebuilt the eight-point lead on another Reeves layup to go up 27-19 with 4:05 to play. But that's when the Lancers made a comeback. Mitchell got two free throws to start a 9-0 and capped it with a layup with seven seconds left in the half to give CBU a 28-27 lead at intermission.
 
HPU came back with the lead in the third quarter, only to have CBU respond to grab the lead on a Dale 3-pointer with 5:23 remaining in the quarter.
 
But that would be the last Lancer lead. Senior guard Spencer Gray of Centerville, Ohio/Centerville, got a layup with 4:20 left to tie the score and Lambrigtsen gave HPU the lead for good with a layup a minute later that keyed an 11-0 run that was capped by a half-court 3-pointer by Lambrigtsen for a 43-34 lead after three.
 
HPU wasn't done with the run, starting the fourth with a Reeves jumper and a triple from junior forward Gabriella Fotu of Auckland, New Zealand/Rangitoto to take a 14-point 48-34 lead.
 
The Lancers, though, had one more run left in them. Trailing by 12 with 4:18 to play, CBU got two free throws from Mitchell, and 3-pointers from Ram and Dale for an 8-0 run to cut the Sharks lead to four.
 
The Sharks rebounded with a layup by Gray, followed by a free throw by Lambrigtsen to take over the momentum. HPU held on down the stretch with a layup and 5-of-6 free throws to win by 10, 66-56.
 
HPU takes a couple of days off before facing a showdown with Azusa Pacific on Thursday at 3:30 HST (5:30 PST). The teams are tied with one PacWest loss, but APU has played and won two more games to hold the percentage-points lead in the conference race.