MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team opened up its 2025-26 season with a 56-51 overtime win over host Milwaukee School of Engineering on Friday afternoon on the first day of the STEM Classic.

With the win, the Athenas move on to the championship game tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. Pacific) against the winner of the later semifinal between Rose-Hulman and Case Western.

Caleigh Edwards led CMS with 18 points, including a four-point play in overtime to give CMS the lead for good. Renee Chong had 16 points, including the tying basket in regulation and five points in the final minute of overtime to seal it.

With the Athenas down by a point in overtime, Edwards converted and was fouled on the play with 3:41 left. She missed the foul shot, but Laura Strenk got the offensive rebound, and fed Edwards for another basket to make it 51-48. After the Raiders cut it to one, Chong hit a jumper with 43 seconds left to make it a three-point game.

MSOE split two at the line with 37 seconds left to close the gap to 53-51, but Chong hit the dagger three-pointer with the shot clock winding down to seal the win with 11 seconds left.

Chong forced the overtime when she stole the ball off of an MSOE inbounds pass following a timeout and went coast-to-coast for a layup with 17 seconds left. The Raiders had two chances to win in the closing seconds, but missed both as the game headed into the extra session.

CMS scored 20 points in the first quarter to take a 20-13 lead, and then held MSOE to only three points in the second quarter to take a 27-16 lead into halftime.

The Athenas trailed 10-7 midway through the first quarter, but then heated up behind the three-point line to surge in front. Edwards tied the score 10-10 with a three, and then Tanya Ghai put CMS ahead to stay with another shot beyond the arc with 3:35 left in the first.

After Ghai had a steal and a driving lay-up, Chong capped off an 11-0 run with another three to put the Athenas ahead 18-10. Haylie Wang finished off the first frame with a driving lay-up, and then hit a three-pointer to give CMS a 23-14 lead early in the second quarter.

Katie Resendiz put the Athenas ahead by double figures for the first time with 6:55 left in the half with a jumper to make it 25-14, and MSOE answered on the next possession with 6:31 left. The score stayed frozen at 25-16 for the next six minutes, before Edwards hit two foul shots with 35 seconds left to end the first half scoring. Ghai had five steals in the first half alone to key the CMS defensive effort.

After playing in the championship game tomorrow against either Rose-Hulman or Case Western, the Athenas will next be in action on Friday for their home opener against Mary Hardin-Baylor at 6 p.m.