Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

LA VERNE, Calif. –The Whittier College women's basketball team has almost been knocked out of SCIAC Post Season contention as they fell to the Leopards of the University of La Verne Thursday evening 83-67. 

Whittier now drops to 5-13, 2-5 SCIAC, while La Verne moves to 5-13, 3-4 SCIAC keeping their post season hopes alive.

Senior Brittany Aranda had a team high 19 points on 9-of-17 shooting, while Monica Salazar came off the bench to chip in with 12 points going 2-of-4 from behind the three point line.  The Leopards who were coming into tonight's contest as one of the top Div. III 3-point shooting teams in the nation were held to only 33% on 8-of-24 shooting, while Whittier matched them in almost every statistical category. 

On the glass, the Leopards held a big advantage, outrebounding the Poets by 11, while at the same time receiving 51 points from their bench compared to Whittier's 22. 

The Purple & Gold jumped out early to an 8-3 lead but saw the Leopards go on an 8-0 run to take their first lead 11-8.  At the 12:34 mark, Aranda tied the game up at 21 a piece with a jumper from the baseline, but again saw another 10-0 run put on by the Leopards behind Megan Musashi who finished with a game high 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

After Aranda got the Poets with ten, La Verne then went on another 12-0 run to take a twenty point lead into the half up 45-25.

Coming out of the break Whittier began picking up the intensity and pressuring the ball handlers forcing 11 turnovers, while at the same time chipping back into the Leopard lead behind Aranda who drained four baskets and a free throw all within a four minute span to cut the lead to 16.

But La Verne continued to drain the deep ball as Kelly Kika drained back to back threes to extend the Leopard lead to 20, and despite a last ditch effort behind Salazar who knocked in seven straight points for the Poets at the 7:00 mark there was no stopping Kika who continued to pour in the points helping La Verne clinch the victory.

Whittier returns to the court this coming Saturday, January 28 as they welcome in the Beavers of the California Institute of Technology beginning at 5:00pm.