Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Despite vicious thunderstorms in Santa Cruz, Calif. this weekend, the Whittier College women's basketball team was able to come away with a split during the UC Santa Cruz Classic falling to the Banana Slugs 70-41 before holding off Lawrence University 68-54.

With the split Whittier moves back to .500 on the season at 3-3 and begin preparing for the Purple & Gold Poet Classic set to take place December 29-30 in the Graham Athletic Center where they will welcome in UC Santa Cruz, La Sierra, and Salem State.

Game 1 (UC Santa Cruz; L, 70-41)

The Banana Slugs jumped all over the Poets from the opening whistle proving to be a force inside and out as they induced 27 turnovers, won the rebounding effort 51-39, while shooting 45% from the field. 

Carly Buechler (Denver, CO) led the Poets scoring with 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting, which included going 2-of-4 from deep.  She also had four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.

Off the bench in 17 minutes, Erica Houston (Stockton, Calif.) proved to be a big factor inside tossing in a season high 10 points going 5-of-8 from the field to go with four rebounds.  Ana Youngblood (Washington, DC) missed out on yet another double double with a team high eight boards to go with eight points in 19 minutes of action.

The largest lead for UCSC came in the second half with a 34 point margin, which came with 7:53 to play.  Whittier trailed 31-18 at the break and made a comeback in the second but a 13-0 run midway through the frame would seal the victory for the Banana Slugs.      

Game 2 (Lawrence; W, 68-54) 

Wrapping up the Classic, the Poets found themselves matched up against a strong Lawrence University squad but thanks to a strong second half with 34 points the Poets were able to come away with the victory.       

It was a seesaw first half with Lawrence taking an early 19-12 advantage, but an ensuing 17-3 run over the next six minutes would give the Poets a 29-22 lead, which would hold up shortly as the Vikings would storm back to knot things up at 34 at the break thanks to their own 12-4 run.

Opening up the second the Poets scored the first seven points to grab a 41-34 edge with 16:09 remaining.  After a Viking lay-up, Whittier got a layup from Houston and back to back three pointers from senior Dannika Navales-Lugtu (San Francisco, Calif.) that opened up the game 49-36, which wouldn't be relinquished. 

Lawrence attempted to come back with 10:02 remaining with four points that cut the deficit to nine 49-40 but that's as close as they would get as Whittier would roll to the 16 point victory.

Priscilla Rodriguez (Norwalk, Calif.) led the Poets with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while collecting a career high five steals.  Navales-Lugtu had nine points off the bench, while Youngblood again crashed the boards with a game high 12.