Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – It was a game they had to have but the Poets came short as La Verne ended the Whittier women's basketball teams' shot at the conference postseason playoffs with a 71-55 win on Saturday night at the Graham Athletics Center.

With the loss, Whittier falls to 6-7 in the conference and is two games back of the coveted fourth seed in the SCIAC tournament.

The Poets had their opportunities in front of the 559 fans who packed the gym. Trailing 12-0 through the early part of the game, the Poets began to climb back into it with strong offensive play. Whittier shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half and held the Leopards to 31 percent.

La Verne (11-13, 7-6 SCIAC) kept its lead around the double digit mark for the majority of the half but the Poets turned a 24-12 deficit into a 30-29 lead with an 18-5 run. The purple and gold gradually worked their way back into the game and piggybacked a pair of Brittany Aranda 3-pointers and took its first lead of the game on an Amanda Apgar deep ball at the 2:50 mark.

Neither team managed must offense in the final three minutes as the only points came from a pair of free throws from Megan Musashi.

The Leopards led 31-30 at the break.

The Poets took their second lead of the game, and what proved to be their last, at the 16:42 mark of the second stanza. Alex Bassett found Apgar on the backcourt cut for the easy layup to put WC up 38-37.

Although it looked as if the Poets had seized momentum, the Leopards scored eight straight to take a 45-38 lead.

Whittier twice cut the lead to five points but when the deficit hit double digits, La Verne turned up the pressure. La Verne's 56-43 lead was trimmed to 58-49 but ULV had the answer in a 3-pointer from Emily Carrillo.

Carrillo had a game-high 23 points.

The three-ball broke the back of the Poets as the Leopards pushed its lead to as many as 18 points.

Alex Coon led Whittier with 11 points while Kourtney Zilbert, who fouled out, added seven points with nine rebounds.

La Verne controlled the glass with 48 rebounds to WC's 36 but more impressively had 16 offensive boards.

The Poets will wrap-up their season on Tuesday evening as they face Cal Lutheran. A win would ensure the Poets a winning season.