RIVERSIDE — Khloe Lemon has shown no rust since returning to action for the California Baptist University women’s basketball team. California Baptist’s Claudia Fiel and Utah Valley’s Ally Criddle battle for the ball in a Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball game at CBU’s Fowler Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) California Baptist’s Khloe Lemon goes for a layup against Utah Valley’s Tessa Chaney in a Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball game at CBU’s Fowler Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) California Baptist’s Emma Johansson goes for a layup against Utah Valley’s Ally Criddle in a Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball game at CBU’s Fowler Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) California Baptist’s Khloe Lemon goes for a layup during a Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball game against Utah Valley at CBU’s Fowler Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) California Baptist’s Khloe Lemon celebrates one of her 11 3-pointers against Utah Valley in a Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball game at CBU’s Fowler Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Show Caption1 of 5California Baptist’s Claudia Fiel and Utah Valley’s Ally Criddle battle for the ball in a Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball game at CBU’s Fowler Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Expand Lemon, a sophomore guard from Omaha, originally planned to use her medical redshirt after undergoing foot surgery during the offseason. She recovered quicker than expected, however, and scored a team-high 18 points off the bench in her season debut a week ago at Seattle. Lemon was back in the starting lineup Saturday afternoon and delivered a sensational performance. She broke the program record and tied a Western Athletic Conference record by sinking 11 3-pointers during the game. Lemon finished with a career-high 39 points, leading the Lancers to a 77-50 win over Utah Valley University at the Fowler Events Center. The 39 points scored by Lemon Saturday matched the program’s Division I-era record set by Britney Thomas against Seattle in 2019. And Lemon’s 11 3-pointers broke the program’s previous single-game record of 10, which was set by Taylor Wu versus Ottawa in 2019. “I have to give the credit to my teammates. They did a great job finding me in all four quarters,” said Lemon, was was selected to the WAC freshmen first-team last season. “That’s my job to knock down shots. I did my job, but everyone else did theirs, as well. “Honestly, being back out here is a gift from God. I did not see myself here when the season started… This means so much to me.” California Baptist (5-11 overall, 2-0 in WAC) never trailed during the game and held a double-digit lead for all but 3 1/2 minutes Saturday afternoon. Lemon knocked down 3-pointers on three straight possessions as the Lancers grabbed a 14-4 lead with 6:30 left in the first quarter. “I said we can’t let her get going,” Utah Valley coach Dan Nielson said after Lemon knocked down her second 3-pointer of the game. Lemon wasn’t the only Lancer hitting shots from long range Saturday afternoon. CBU made 19 of 34 attempts from distance, one made 3-pointer off the program record. Nhug Bosch Duran was 4 for 7 from behind the arc, and Emma Johansson also drained 3 of 5 shots from deep. CBU moved the ball around and shredded Utah Valley’s zone defense. The Lancers registered 24 assists on their 27 made field goals. “Our plan was to move the ball around and shoot a lot of 3s,” CBU coach Jarrod Olson said. “We were going to live or die that way. Today, we were able to hit a bunch of them and looked amazing doing it. That’s the usual plan for us, and they made me look good today.” Utah Valley (9-6, 1-2) could not keep pace with the Lancers and made just 5 of 25 attempts from distance and 17 of 70 shots overall. The Wolverines racked up 20 offensive rebounds throughout the game but managed to turn those into only six second-chance points. Lemon showed great consistency throughout the game, making at least two 3-pointers in each quarter. Her record-setting shooting came on 18 attempts.. “Khloe is a real lightning rod,” Olson said. “It’s not a surprise to see her heat up like that, and she was just feeling it today. Sometimes you just have one of those games where everything goes your way. Look at Khloe today. I think she had two 3s going in off the glass.” Lemon exited with 2:15 remaining, finishing just four points shy of the program’s NCAA-era record set by Kamille Diaz against Point Loma in 2017. “The record lives,” Diaz said with a laugh after the game. Diaz is in her third season as an assistant coach for the Lancers. Grace Schmidt finished with 13 points and five rebounds for the Lancers, and Duran added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Johansson had nine points, five rebounds and four blocks before fouling out, and Claudia Fiel tallied a game-high six assists. Related Articles College Sports | No. 4 USC women come home amid fires to host Penn State College Sports | Desmond Claude leads USC’s upset of No. 13 Illinois College Sports | No. 1 UCLA women’s basketball uniting under harsh circumstances College Sports | Mick Cronin ejected during UCLA’s loss to Maryland College Sports | Northwestern women’s basketball cancels trip to play UCLA and USC amid Los Angeles fires CBU qualified for the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time last season. However, the Lancers started the current season with nine consecutive losses. Lemon was unavailable, and returning starter Filipa Barros suffered a season-ending injury during the second game. Lemon’s return last week clearly was a bright spot, but the Lancers lost point guard Anaiyah Tu’ua to a thumb injury suffered in that same game. Despite all of the setbacks, CBU finished the week as 1 of 3 teams still unbeaten in conference play (also Grand Canyon and UT-Arlington). “It’s been one of those seasons where anything that can go wrong seemingly has,” Olson said. “We kept trying to positive and encouraging through it all. These girls never lost hope and the effort is still there every night. It’s a great group to coach.”