Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The Whittier College women's basketball team opened up their 2013-14 campaign with two losses at the Hampton Inn Classic falling 57-34 to Puget Sound and 89-60 to UC Santa Cruz.

Sophomore Ashley Genie (Whittier, Calif.) got her season off on the right track being named to the Hampton Inn Classic All-Tournament Team, her first Tournament Team in her collegiate career.  She joined Katie Anslie (Puget Sound), Leah Parrish (UC Santa Cruz), and Gabby Zehref (St. Catherine) with the Tournament MVP being Sarah Mackey (UC  Santa Cruz).   

Game 1 (Puget Sound – L, 57-34)

Behind a low 22.4 shooting percentage, Whittier was unable to solve the stifling defense put on by the Loggers of Puget Sound in the opening game of the Hampton Inn Classic at Kaiser Permanente Area.

The Loggers tallied the first 10 points of the game until the Poets would tally their first at the 12:31 mark.  Despite trailing by 10 most of the first half, Whittier would put together a late rally scoring five unanswered with a three pointer from freshman Carly Buechler (Greenwood Village, CO) and a pair of free throws from freshman Kassie Alvarado (Santa Ana, Calif.) that pulled the Poets within six 22-16 at the half.

In the second half, Puget Sound opened up a 21 point lead behind a 15-0 run that covered the first four minutes of the half, eight of them coming from Amanda Forshay.  Whittier however would bounce right back adding the next eight points with six coming from sophomore Genie coupled with a layin by freshman Priscilla Rodriguez (East Los Angeles, Calif.) that cut the deficit to 13.

But this would be as close as the Poets would get as the Loggers would increase their lead back to 20 with 7:37 to play and then 24 with 5:30 to play.

Genie and Rodriguez had team highs six points, with freshman Lexie Van Zuilen (La Habra, Calif.) hauling in a team high five boards.            

Game 2 (UC Santa Cruz – L, 89-60)

In the last game of the classic the poets matched up against the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz.

Whittier opened up the contest with a three ball from Nicole Ruffino (Las Vegas, NV) but after six unanswered from the Banana Slugs, UCSC would take their first lead and never look back as they would increase it to 21 at the 10:08 mark.  Whittier put together a run midway through the half adding their own run of six with a couple jumpers from Ruffino and a bucket and free throw from Buechler to pull within 13.  They would get within ten minutes later with three points from Genie and then a pair of free throws from freshman Margo Campos (Norwalk, Calif.) and then with 1:24 to play in the frame Whittier would put together a push putting up seven that moved the score to 44-32 at intermission.

The second half was a seesaw battle with UCSC increasing their lead back to 17 and then to 23.  Whittier put together another 6-0 run with a couple baskets coming from Genie and a layin from Ashley Lindke (Pleasanton, Calif.) but it wouldn't be enough as the Banana Slugs would use a 12-0 run of their own to increase their lead to 31 points en route to the 89-60 victory.

Genie finished with a team high 10 points and four rebounds.  Ruffino was 4-8 from the field for nine points and Campos and Rodriguez totaled eight points a piece with Rodriguez hauling in a game high seven boards.

Off the bench, Dannika Navales-Lugtu (San Francisco, Calif.) totaled seven points, while Erica Houston (Stockton, Calif.) collected four and seven rebounds.

Whittier returns to the court this week on Friday and Saturday (November 22 and 23) when they travel to Wheaton, IL to take part in the Wheaton Classic taking on Wheaton College and Buena Vista.