Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Poets tied a season-high with eight made three pointers but were outrebounded 46-32 and managed a mere 30 percent effort from the floor as Redlands defeated Whittier, 79-59, on Thursday night at the Graham Athletics Center.

Mariah Barbettie-Cort scored a game-high 27 points and came one rebound shy of a double-double to lead the Bulldogs.

Whittier (11-10, 5-5 SCIAC) scored the game's first bucket on a layup by Marissa Bruce and led 5-4 after a Danielle Quinones three-pointer at the 17:44 mark. However, the Bulldogs evened the score from the foul line on their next possession and took advantage of an offensive rebound to claim its first and only lead of the game.

Redlands (14-7, 8-2 SCIAC) turned the 7-5 lead into a 15-point lead – the  largest advantage of the first frame - with a 25-12 run over a 13-minute period.

The Poets stayed in the game and ended the half on an 11-4 run, capped by a Quinones driving layup in the waning seconds, to go into the locker room down 36-28.

Redlands opened the second half with six quick points and stretched its lead to 44-28 just 3:13 into the start of the second stanza. Whittier trimmed the lead to 12 points with baskets on consecutive possessions but the Bulldogs scored seven straight points to takes its largest lead of the game at 51-32.

One more time the Poets worked to cut the lead to 12 points but couldn't get any closer. Trailing 53-41, Whittier allowed a 14-4 run over a five-minute stretch to see the Bulldogs take a 67-46 lead with 6:29 left in regulation.

In addition to holding a 14-board rebounding advantage, Redlands outscored the Poets 30-12 in the paint.

Monica Salazar scored a team-high 11 points and Brittany Aranda added 10 off the bench.

Kourtney Zilbert entered the game leading the conference in rebounding with over nine a game but was held to just three boards and six points.

The Poets return to action this weekend as they travel to Pasadena to face Caltech at 5 pm.