Lady Keelhaulers nab first conference win at PUC

Cal Maritime pulled away in the second half for their first conference win of the 2018-19 season in a 66-42 victory in Angwin, Calf.

The Lady Keelhaulers were down 6-3 early on, but before long would find their offensive groove and were up 21-17 early in the second quarter. Shots by senior co-captains Samantha James and Katherine Freitas extended the lead to 28-20 and Cal Maritime would go into the half up by 10 with James having eight points.

The Keelhaulers started the second half controlling the offensive glass and James hit a three after some great ball movement and it was 36-21 Maritime just over a minute into the second half.

PUC would get the deficit back to single digits after hitting a couple threes in a row and the Lady Keelhaulers lead was trimmed down to 38-29 with 3:54 left in the third quarter. More downtown prowess from Pioneers cut it to a 41-35 Maritime lead with just two minutes left in third, but by the end of the third quarter the Lady Keelhaulers extended their lead back to 45-36 over PUC.

Cal Maritime extended their lead to 20 at 58-38 with 4:40 left to play en route to their 24-point victory. The Keelhaulers were led by Samantha James, who scored 19 points on 6 of 16 shooting.

"Our offense allows me a lot of opportunities," James said. "My teammates look for me and gave me some good passes."

Katherine Freitas and Kameron Taylor both had 11 points and Kiara Warren added 10 points. Valiceia Horne had a team-high 15 boards and Tyra Fai'malo had nine rebounds and five assists.

The Keelhaulers, who held Pacific Union to 22 percent shooting, host Benedictine Mesa at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.