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Whittier College

Women's Basketball

Tigers tame Poets in conference match-up

Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. - The Poets shot just 28 percent from the floor and came up empty on all nine of its three-point attempts on Thursday evening in a 71-53 loss to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Occidental.

Despite the difficult night for the purple and gold, WC is still in the driver's seat for the fourth, and final, playoff spot. The Poets hold a two-game advantage over fifth place Claremont-M-S with five games left on the schedule.

Tina Merlino continued her solid play picking up her seventh double-double of the season with a 10-point, 10-rebound, outing and Kourtney Zilbert poured in a game-high 16 points in the loss.

Occidental (16-4, 8-1 SCIAC) seized control early, taking its first lead of the contest at the 18:10 mark of the first half.

The Tiger's first half lead got as high as 21 points before they took a 39-20 advantage into the intermission.

Whittier (12-8, 5-4 SCIAC) clawed back into the game with an 18-11 run to open the second frame but hit a three-minute scoring drought that saw the Tiger's lead get pushed back to 18 points with 6:28 left in the game.

The purple and gold committed 20 turnovers and allowed 13 Occidental points off those miscues while the Poets capitalized on 17 Tiger turnovers with 14 points.

Occidental outscored the Poets 32-26 in the paint despite being outrebounded 41-40.

Essence Scott chipped in with seven points and four rebounds for Whittier and Morgan Sabala had six points, four assists and three steals.

The Poets outscored the Tigers 33-32 in the second half.

WC returns to action on Saturday evening as it hosts Pomona-Pitzer at 5:00 pm.

 

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Players Mentioned

Kourtney Zilbert

#00 Kourtney Zilbert

F
5' 9"
Junior
Essence Scott

#44 Essence Scott

F
5' 11"
Junior
Morgan Sabala

#21 Morgan Sabala

G
5' 6"
Junior
Tina Merlino

#10 Tina Merlino

F
6' 2"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Kourtney Zilbert

#00 Kourtney Zilbert

5' 9"
Junior
F
Essence Scott

#44 Essence Scott

5' 11"
Junior
F
Morgan Sabala

#21 Morgan Sabala

5' 6"
Junior
G
Tina Merlino

#10 Tina Merlino

6' 2"
Junior
F