Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College women's basketball team earned their first win of December while snapping their three game losing streak by edging the Pioneers of Pacific Union 58-43 Tuesday afternoon at the Graham Athletic Center.

Whittier improves to 3-6, 1-2 SCIAC, while Pacific Union continues to seek their first win of 2012 as they drop to 0-6.

With the addition of two new faces to the Poet squad the Purple & Gold were able to jump out to a 22 point lead and were able to capitalize off of 18 Pioneer turnovers.  Whittier welcomed in two senior transfers in Whitney Blackburn and Casceal Swaggard who wrapped up their paperwork prior to the game and were eligible to take part in their first action in a Poet uniform.

Blackburn finished playing six minutes gathering a steal and an assist, while Swaggard played 13 minutes totaling two rebounds, two assists, one block, and two points in the win.

Amanda Apgar and Danielle Hays paced the Poets with season highs in points with Apgar finishing with a team high 16 points on 6-12 shooting along with four boards, while Hays finished with 12 points on 5-7 shooting to go with nine rebounds.

Despite having one sub, the Pioneers saw Alexandra Santanello post a double double finishing with a game high 21 points on 7-19 shooting, while Alejandra Gallardo was the only other player to post a double digit effort for Pacific Union finishing with 14 points. 

From start to finish it was all Whittier despite Pacific Union holding three one point leads in the first eleven minutes of play. But the Purple & Gold answered with an 8-0 run thanks to Hays who posted two lay-ins and a jumper that put WC up 18-11 with 5:43 to play in the first half.  But the Poets didn't stop there as they continued to pour on the offense finishing the first half on a 12-5 run opening up a 14 point lead going into the break.

Coming out of the intermission, Whittier continued where they left off from the first half opening up a 22 point lead thanks to a 9-0 run capped off by an Ashley Genie jumper inside the paint.  Santanello attempted to bring back the Pioneers into the contest late in the half but the Poet offense along with the deficit was too much to overcome for Pacific Union as Whittier cruised to the 15 point victory.

The Poets bounce right back for another non-conference matchup tomorrow, December 19 when they host Great Falls beginning at 1:00pm.