ORANGE, Calif. - Grace Florendo scored a career-high 18 points, tying the game with nine seconds left in regulation and then scoring the first five points in overtime, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team closed its 2024-25 season with a 70-62 overtime road win at Chapman. 

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps finishes with a 10-15 overall record 6-10 mark in SCIAC conference play. The Panthers fall to 12-13 overall and 9-7 in league play heading into the conference tournament.

Ruva Kiara also had a key role for the Athenas, scoring 15 points and pulling down 10 rebounds for a double-double, while going 6-6 from the free-throw line. Tanya Ghai was also in double figures for CMS with 11, while . 

After Ava Grey hit a key basket to get CMS within four in the fourth, the Athenas trailed 54-50 with 4:49 left, and then did not allow the Panthers to score the rest of the regulation. Kiara knocked down two foul shots to close the gap to two, and then had a key block at the other end. One possession later, CMS caused a shot clock violation, called timeout, and Florendo came through with the tying bucket. 

The Athenas were within one possession in the final two minutes in eight of their 10 losses, including suffering buzzer-beating defeats to Whittier and Cal Lutheran, but this time CMS was able to avoid the heartbreak as Chapman missed the potential game-winner, and Kiara pulled down the defensive rebound. 

Florendo converted another jumper to start the overtime, then knocked down a three-pointer on the next possession to put CMS up five. Kayla Ishibashi knocked down two foul shots to make the score 61-54, before Chapman finally ended its scoring drought with 2:08 left in overtime, but it was too little too late as the Athenas closed out with a win. 

CMS will look to build off this season's strong finish (5-3 in February next year), although the Athenas will lose Florendo, Ishibashi, Kiara and Grey to graduation.