Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Whittier College women's basketball team's second half comeback just fell short to the Tigers of Occidental College as they narrowly missed the upset 73-67 to the first place team in SCIAC.

Whittier now drops to 4-11 and 1-3 in SCIAC, while Occidental now moves to 12-2, 4-0 SCIAC.

The Poets had four girls reach double figures led by Alex Coon's 15 points and nine boards barely missing her second double double of the season.  Freshman Dannika Navales-Lugtu again followed up her strong performance against Caltech with another stellar performance pouring out 14 points and three assists on 3-of-8 shooting. 

Coming off the bench Bianca Mitchell chipped in with a season high 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting helping Whittier outshoot the Tigers 43% to 395 for the game.

Early in the game Whittier jumped out to a 9-1 lead and then 11-3 behind back to back jumpers from Navales-Lugtu, two perimeter jumpers from Coon, and a three pointer from Tanisha White who finished with 13 points and five boards.  The Poets continued to stay out in front until the 7:30 mark when Occidental got within one 18-17.  From there it became a seesaw battle with neither team being able to take a substantial lead.  But on a 7-3 run to end the half, Whittier was able to enter halftime leading 35-39, a feat that very few teams were able to obtain on the season. 

Coming out of the break Whittier continued to play aggressively but a 6-0 run early by the Tigers got them tied up at 36-36.  Whittier did however extend their lead to 41-37 but the offensive attack from Mackenzie Jordan and her game high 36 points on 13-22 shooting was too much for the Poets to handle as they went on to obtain their first lead of the contest 46-45 with  just under 13:00 to play. 

They then extended their lead to four and then 56-49 and never looked back as they narrowly escaped the upset of the season 73-67.

Whittier returns to the court as they return home to the confines of the Graham Athletic Center as they host the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer on Thursday, January 19 beginning at 7:30pm.