Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – Whittier's defense came away with 14 steals and forced 24 turnovers as the women's basketball team rolled to at 62-35 victory of La Sierra on Saturday night at the Graham Athletics Center.

The night began with a congratulations to Kourtney Zilbert for reaching the 1000-point milestone and the senior forward didn't disappoint. She scored a game-high 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds in the win.

Zilbert added three blocks in just 23 minutes of action.

La Sierra (3-11) shot just 23 percent from the field due in part to the defensive pressure applied by the Poets (2-3). Whittier scored 20 points off turnovers and limited the Golden Eagles to a mere 4-of-21 from long range.

Alex Bassett helped control the paint for the purple and gold with a 12-rebound effort.  Tina Merlino pulled in nine boards as the team outrebounded LSU 52-46.

Whittier scored 28 points in the paint and had 10 second chance put backs.

Merlino and Monica Salazar each scored eight points while Keimi Lew dished out a game-high seven assists to go along with seven points.  Danielle Quinones added four assists and Brittany Aranda had a game-high five steals.

The Poets held the Golden Eagles to just 15 first half points and took a 33-15 lead into the locker rooms.

Whittier is now 2-0 on its eight-game home stand. It returns to action next Friday night at 5 pm as it hosts Whitworth.