Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – Junior Ana Youngblood (Berkeley, Calif.) had a double double with 28 points and 11 rebounds Wednesday night as the Whittier College women's basketball team acted as spoiler holding off the Leopards of the University of La Verne 68-63 in the Graham Athletic Center.
La Verne came in tied for fourth in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings but following the loss now drop into 5th place, while Whittier improves to 8-10, 4-6 SCIAC still with a shot of making the SCIAC Post Season Tournament.
A combined 40 turnovers were made in the game with 22 coming from the Leopards, which the Poets capitalized on with 25 points.
After falling behind 6-0 in the first four minutes of play, the Poets mounted a comeback adding the next six straight and then taking their first lead at the 6:38 mark following a three pointer from Carly Buechler (Denver, CO).
They would extend their lead to five 24-19 following a Christine Miller (Gilbert, AZ) free throw but the Leos would finish the half on a 6-2 run that pulled them within one 26-25 at the break.
In the second half, Youngblood came out firing on all cylinders pouring in 22 of her 28 points, while grabbing eight rebounds. ULV would however find themselves with a lead once again 37-32, but Whittier would get out in front by as many as eight with 11:37 to play following a big 13-0 run that moved the score to 45-37. During the run, La Verne committed four turnovers and the Poets capitalized on all of them for nine points.
La Verne clawed their way back to regain the lead 53-52 aided by seven points from Tiffany Hicks, but then went 3-of-14 from the field the rest of the way, while Whittier added seven free throws in the final 1:09 that secured the victory.
Joining Youngblood was Buechler who finished with eight points and five rebounds, Amia Thrash (Eastvale, Calif.) who chipped in with eight points off the bench, Dannika Navales-Lugtu (San Francisco, Calif.) who had seven points, four assists, and two steals, and Kaylah Alexander (Altoona, PA) who had eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Whittier hits the road for three games beginning with Caltech this Saturday, February 7 as they take on Caltech beginning at 5:00pm.
