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.
