Wallace's career highs, Porter's double-double, 17 lead changes featured in Saturday's battle at La Sierra

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – By scoring seven of her game-high 22 points in the first quarter of Saturday's Cal Pac Conference game inside Alumni Pavilion at Riverside, California, Alicia Porter helped Cal Maritime take a 19-10 lead through 10 minutes of action against La Sierra. 

The graduate student forward connected on 3 of 5 shots from the floor and hit a three; combined, the Keelhaulers posted a .444 overall shooting percentage and a .333 clip from three throughout the opening period.

The team's impressive performance was not limited to one half of the court since it forced the Golden Eagles to miss 11 of 15 field goal attempts and all three shots from distance entering the second quarter.

Lexy Wallace enjoyed a stellar night as well by finishing with a career-high 14 points by canning four shots from three, another career-best figure, out of her five field goals.

Responsible for a game-high 13 rebounds, Porter finished one shy of matching her season high and collected her fourth double-double of the year.

As the evening progressed, the score was tied on three occasions and the lead changed hands 17 times in a game that saw La Sierra outscore CSUM by 10 in the final quarter to escape with a 65-54 victory.

"We fought super hard tonight," said head coach Imhotet Amen-Ra. "Tonight we really showed who we are as a group. To bounce back from the loss like we did to lead at halftime was great. We went a little cold in the 4th quarter, but placed ourselves into position to win going into that quarter only down by one."

In addition to protecting the ball all night long — the Keelhaulers turned the ball over a season-low 14 times — their stifling defense forced the Golden Eagles to finish with 14 turnovers as well, which led to 14 CSUM points.

The Keelhaulers sank both of their free throws on the night compared to the Golden Eagles who scored 12 of their points at the stripe, out of 20 attempts, including a 5-for-6 effort in the fourth quarter to secure a weekend home sweep.

Cal Maritime will enter Tuesday's 6 p.m. road rivalry game at Pacific Union at 0-10 overall and 0-6 against Cal Pac teams; LSU improves to 3-7 and 3-3 with Saturday's result.

"This group continues to find ways to display their grit and belief in each other. I loved our energy and how much we wanted each other to succeed, it was an exciting game to watch and exciting game to play. I want them to be on the other side of their hard work with a victory, but the best part is that we get to see these opponents again," added Amen-Ra.