Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Whittier College women's basketball team saw their two game winning streak snapped Saturday afternoon as they fell 69-68 in overtime to the Tigers of Occidental College at Rush Gymnasium.

The Poets who were favored in the match-up now drop to 7-8, 3-4 SCIAC, while Occidental improves to 4-12, 2-5 SCIAC).

Whittier held a slight 68-67 lead following a Carly Buechler (Denver, CO) layin with eleven seconds to play.  But with 1.5 seconds remaining Oxy's Tiffany Kno would come down on the other end and would get fouled on a three point attempt.  She would make the first and miss the second, but would drain the third that gave the Tigers a one point lead. 

Following a Whittier timeout, Head Coach Elizabeth Stanley would draw up an inbounds play, which would get the Purple & Gold a decent look from 11 feet, but Amia Thrash's (Eastvale, Calif.) jumper would be off the mark allowing Oxy to escape with the one point victory.

Oxy would jump out in front 10-4 in the first half capitalizing off of long rebounds.  Whittier would storm back to knot things up at 14-14 at the 10:00 mark and would later take a 26-21 lead into the break led by Erica Houston (Stockton, Calif.) who tossed in six of her eight points and grabbed two of her seven rebounds for the game.

In the second half, the Poets had an opportunity to increase their lead with Oxy's Kno out of the game for five minutes with an injury, but when she returned she provided the spark Oxy needed as she tossed in 11 of her game high 20 points and two of her six assists on the evening. 

With 2:32 to play in regulation the game was all tied up at 57-57.  Thrash would give WC the lead thirty seconds later with a layup and Buechler would extend it back to two with fifty five seconds to play with a free throw.  But with 42 seconds left Oxy's Ashton Reid would convert with a mid-range jumper that forced overtime. 

In the extra session the Tigers would jump out in front 62-60 thanks to a Ciara Byrne lay-up.  Dannika Navales-Lugtu (San Francisco, Calif.) would respond with a three pointer but Stefanie Young would come down on the other end and sink one of two free throws that tied the game up once again. 

Following a Thrash three ball Byrne would answer again and Kho would convert on a jumper that gave Oxy the slight 67-66 lead with 30 seconds left to play.          

That's when Buechler would convert on a layup and Kho would seal the victory with her two free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining.

Buechler led the Poets with 15 points, six rebounds, two assists, and three steals.  Priscilla Rodriguez (East Los Angeles, Calif.) and Navales-Lugtu each had nine points combining for seven assists, and Thrash would chip in with nine points off the bench and seven boards.

Whittier returns home this week as they host Cal Lutheran University on Wednesday, January 28 beginning at 7:30pm before hosting Claremont-M-S on Saturday, January 31 at 5:00pm.    

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