Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Women's Basketball team faced a tough test at home Wednesday evening as they were outsized in a 69-44 loss to Cal Lutheran University.

The Purple & Gold drop to 6-14, 5-6 SCIAC but still remain in the hunt for a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Post Season Berth.

Cal Lutheran got off to a quick 15-4 start en route to leading 22-7 after the first quarter of play.  They pushed the advantage to 20 points in the second quarter with five straight early but the Poets would provide a little push-back outscoring the Regals 10-4 over the next six minutes to trail 31-17 at the break.  During the spurt Whittier added six in a row with lay-ups from Ana Youngblood (Berkeley, Calif.) and Carly Buechler (Greenwood Village, CO).

A couple free throws from Kaylah Alexander (Altoona, PA) and a triple from Buechler would create some offense in the third quarter that cut the deficit to 15 but that's as close as Whittier would get as CLU would outscore WC 22-15 in the fourth before pulling off the 25-point victory.

Emily Underwood (Nicholasville, KY) was the lone Poet in double figures with 10 points going 4-of-7 from the field.  Emilee Dy (Chino Hills, Calif.) came off the bench to add nine points, while Cali Cubel (Oceanside, Calif.) and Buechler each added eight points apiece.

Whittier was outrebounded 39-26 and turned the ball over 19 times.  They were outscored 30-24 in the paint and saw CLU hold a lead as many as 32.             

Whittier has a bye this Saturday in conference play and will return to competition next week on Wednesday, February 8 as they take on Claremont-M-S beginning at 7:00pm.