Undefeated WAC Champions
The 2020-21 California Baptist University women’s basketball team had three goals when the season started: win the conference regular-season title, win the conference tournament and advance in a postseason tournament. To say the Lancers accomplished their goals would be a disservice to their actual achievements. They won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles and a pair of games in the WNIT Postseason, but this team managed to do more than just that along the way. The Lancers would check off their rst goal as a 15-point win over Grand Canyon guaranteed the program’s rst outright WAC regular-season championship. After sweeping Seattle U on the road, the Lancers would clinch the WAC’s rst-ever undefeated regular-season record the following weekend. Ultimately, a 26-1 season record would become a national talking point as well as a benchmark in the department’s transition to becoming a full NCAA Division I member institution. The Lancers maintained the nation’s longest active win streak for most of the season, nally surpassing inactive Princeton at 22-0 to claim sole ownership of that title. With the number one seed rmly in hand, the Lancers earned a rst-round bye in their inaugural trip to Las e V gas for the WAC conference tournament. Unfazed by the fact that they could not obtain the WAC automatic qualier bid to the NCAA Tournament due to their transition status, the Lancers won their games against NM State and GCU by an average margin of victory of 21.5 points, which earned them the right to cut down the nets for a second time this season.
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Ane Olaeta Graduate Student WAC Nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year The Western Athletic Conference announced its 2021 nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award and named California Baptist University basketball’s Ane Olaeta as one of the conference’s two nominees. Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award is rooted in Title IX and recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their NCAA eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers. The Woman of the Year Selection Committee will now choose the Top 30 honorees, who will be celebrated and the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named later.
