Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College women's basketball team completed their 2011-12 season with a narrow loss to the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer 73-67 on Saturday evening.
Whittier finishes with a record of 7-18, 4-10 SCIAC, while Pomona finished 5-20, 3-11 SCIAC.
The Sagehens avenged their previous loss to the Poets from January 19 when the Poets pulled out the 58-52 victory in the confines of the Graham Athletic Center by winning this evening 73-67 behind 16 point performances from Asha Gipson and Alexis Sones.
The Poets were led by junior Alex Coon who also tossed in 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting with 8 boards, while Tanisha White recorded her second straight double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds totaling three this season.
The Poets had all five starters score in double figures but only received six points from their bench which proved to be a factor down the stretch.
Pomona shot an astounding 48% from the field and 48% from behind the three point line, while Whittier led in every category on the evening from rebounds to points in the paint to points off turnovers but was unable to finish down the stretch.
Senior Brittany Aranda and freshman Dannika Navales-Lugtu finished with 12 points, while Keimi Lew chipped in with 11.
Whittier jumped out to a 6-0 lead behind back to back three pointers from White and Navales-Lugtu but Pomona came back with a 9-0 run to take a 9-6 lead. Whittier then answered with another 9-0 run to take the lead 15-1, but again Pomona came back to tie up the game at 19-19.
From here it became a seesaw battle with neither team being able to take a substantial lead until Whittier closed out the half on a 12-5 run to go into the break up 33-28.
Coming out of intermission, the Sagehens opened up on an 11-0 run capped off by two free throws from Gipson. This gave them the lead 39-33, which they held onto for the rest of the half. Whittier got close and got within two at the 11:29 mark but that's as close as they would get as Pomona extended their lead to 11 despite Whittier's final effort in the final two minutes getting back to within five.
But Pomona knocked down 10 free throws in the final 1:30 to clinch the victory and avenge their previous loss to the Poets.
This concludes the Poets 2011-12 season as they again missed the SCIAC Post Season Tournament for the second straight year finishing in 6th place in SCIAC.
