By DOUG AIKEN
ORANGE – After leading the Chapman University women’s basketball team to a pair of wins at the Redlands Tip-Off Classic, junior G Kimi Takaoka has been named SCIAC Female Athlete of the Week.
Takaoka set a career-high with 35 points against UC Merced on Nov. 17, coming within three points of the Chapman single-game record. The junior was 13-for-22 shooting from the field, including six three-pointers in the game to lead the Panthers to a 78-63 win.
On Nov. 16, Takaoka scored 15 points to help Chapman beat Hardin-Simmons (Texas) 70-58. She was named to the All-Tournament team for the second straight year.
She is the fourth Chapman athlete to earn SCIAC Athlete of the Week honors, joining soccer/football player Mauricio Alfonso, football player Jeremiah McKibbins, and women’s soccer player Val Sobol. This is the Panthers’ first full season as a member of the conference.
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was established in 1915. The league is currently composed of nine private colleges and universities in Southern California: California Institute of Technology, California Lutheran University, Chapman University, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, University of La Verne, Occidental College, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, University of Redlands, and Whittier College.
The conference recognizes outstanding athletic achievements of its student-athletes on a weekly and annual basis.
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Aiken is sports information director for Chapman University.