Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

LA VERNE, Calif. – It was a story of two halves Saturday evening as the Whittier College women's basketball team saw themselves trailing by just two at the half before the Leos would total 34 in the second half en route to the 69-56 victory.

Whittier who was coming off of a 100-73 victory over Caltech two days ago, carried offensive momentum into Saturday's contest but scored just 56 points, their fifth lowest total of the season after shooting a mere 31.4% from the field. 

Sophomore forward Ashley Genie (Whittier, Calif.) sparked the Poets in the first half with 12 points and five boards, which included six of the final nine points that helped Whittier go into the break trailing by just two.

La Verne extended their lead quickly in the second half with a 12-0 run that covered a three –minute span, and then moved the lead to twenty on three different occasions with the first coming at the 7:20 mark.  Whittier did however put together a last minute run with the final six points of the game, which included an old fashioned three point play from freshman Erica Houston (Stockton, Calif.) and a layup and free throw from Dannika Navales-Lugtu (San Francisco, Calif.) but it would be a little too late as the Leos would go on to clinch their fifth Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory on the season (SCIAC).

Three Poets recorded double digit scoring efforts led by Nicole Ruffino (Las Vegas, NV) who came out strong in the second half with 10 points, finishing with a team high 16.  Genie was held to just two points in the second half finishing with 14 for the game to go with seven boards, while Navales-Lugtu chipped in with 10 along with four assists.

For La Verne, Lindsey Foster barely missed a double double with 23 points and nine boards, while Teresa Fatai collected her own double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. 

Whittier returns home for a three game home stand beginning with Redlands this Thursday, January 23 beginning at 7:30pm, then Cal Lutheran on Saturday, January 25 at 7:00pm before hosting UC Santa Cruz on Thursday, January 30 at 7:00pm.